Face-to-face with scorching wildfire: potential toxicant exposure and the health risks of smoke for wildland firefighters at the wildland-urban interface.

As wildfire risks have elevated due to climate change, the health risks that toxicants from fire smoke pose to wildland firefighters have been exacerbated. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reclassified wildland firefighters' occupational exposure as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). Wildfire smoke contributes to an increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, yet wildland firefighters have inadequate respiratory protection.

Evaluation of Mass Spectrometric Methods for Screening Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Particulate Phase of Wildfire/Biomass Smoke.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of compounds containing multiple aromatic rings formed during incomplete combustion. Since many of them are known mutagens and carcinogens, PAHs found in the particulate matter (PM) from the wildfire smoke may pose significant health risks to the wildland firefighters. It is pivotal to determine the levels of PAHs in the PM to evaluate the health effects of their inhalation exposure.

Forensic Fiber Analysis by Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis-Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry.

The thermal desorption/pyrolysis-direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (TD/Py-DART-MS) method was developed for the analysis of fibers in this study. The fiber samples were pyrolyzed with a temperature gradient and the pyrolysis products were determined by DART-MS. The pyrogram from the TD/Py-DART-MS fiber analysis was found to be associated with the physical properties such as the melting points.

Releases of Fire-Derived Contaminants from Polymer Pipes Made of Polyvinyl Chloride.

In order to assess the human exposure risks from the release of contaminants from water pipes made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), experiments were carried out by subjecting the PVC pipe material to burning and leaching conditions followed by analysis of the emission and leachate samples. The emissions of burning pipes were analyzed by both infrared spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The emission test results indicate the presence of chlorinated components including chlorine dioxide, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, allyl chloride, vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, 1-chlorobutane, tetrachloroethylene, chlorobenzene, and hydrogen chloride were detected in the emissions of burning PVC pipes.

Analysis of chemical constituents in mainstream bidi smoke.

Bidi, an indigenous form of cigarette in South Asian countries, is popular because of its low cost and multi-flavored variants. Although recent studies have shown that bidi smokers suffer from various adverse health effects including cancer, research on bidi smoke composition and exposure levels is still very limited. In this research, the vapor and particulate phases of bidi were characterized using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR).