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New registry could shed light on link between wildland firefighting and cancer

 A firefighter keeps an eye out for spot fires on the Ross Fork Fire last year in Idaho.
InciWeb
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InciWeb
A firefighter keeps an eye out for spot fires on the Ross Fork Fire last year in Idaho.

In 2019, Kat Navarro worked a season with the Redmond Hotshots, a Forest Service crew based on the east side of the Oregon Cascades.

Late that summer, they were on a fire in the Malheur National Forest. In videos she recently shared with me, thick smoke filled the dense woods.

Navarro was doing the same tough work as everybody else, and that long summer served as an intense crash course on the complex reality of wildland working conditions.

鈥淥ne of the big takeaways that I had was that this work environment is incredibly complex and it's full of risks," she told me. "There are things that are going to, you know, harm you, hurt you, injure you immediately, and oftentimes that's what we're concerned about. And so it's really hard to think about, 鈥榟ow do we mitigate exposures for things that may not harm us immediately?鈥欌€�

Navarro has an environmental health Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and she鈥檚 especially interested in the long-term impacts of heavy exposure to smoke and other things that wildland fires regularly come into contact with, including like benzene. She now coordinates the Interior Department鈥檚 new Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing program.

 Wildland firefighter health researcher Kat Navarro did a season with the Redmond Hotshots in 2019.
Courtesy of Kat Navarro
Wildland firefighter health researcher Kat Navarro did a season with the Redmond Hotshots in 2019.

鈥淎s far as what we know about the long-term health effects, there's really only two studies out there that have looked at that,鈥� she said.

found a link to a higher risk of heart arrhythmia and hypertension, as well as a greater likelihood of needing knee surgery among wildland firefighters.

鈥淲hich makes sense when you're carrying a very heavy pack down steep hills,鈥� Navarro said of the surgery finding.

She was the lead author on a that found 鈥渁n increased risk of lung cancer that ranged from 8% for a five-year career to 43% for a 25-year career,鈥� Navarro said. 鈥淎nd then for cardiovascular disease, an excess risk of 16 to 30%.鈥�

A big part of why there鈥檚 little else on the subject is due to how hard the research is to conduct: The study subjects are an itinerant, seasonal workforce doing back-to-back 16-hour days in often hostile, remote locations that aren鈥檛 kind to lab equipment.

Despite that, Navarro sees burgeoning interest all around her.

鈥淭here's a lot of support both internally and externally,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it's really exciting.鈥�

Addressing 鈥榢nowledge gaps鈥�

One new effort is the National Firefighter Registry, which Navarro expects to become a "great tool." The NFR鈥檚 online went live in April, and I called Kenny Fent with the CDC鈥檚 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to learn more about it.

A 2018 bill its creation, explained Fent, a research industrial hygienist and NFR team lead. The registry seeks to improve understanding of the association between all types of firefighting and cancer and help reduce those risks.

鈥淚f you're diagnosed with cancer, it's getting reported to the state in which you live,鈥� Fent said. 鈥淏ut what's not happening, the knowledge gap we're trying to fill is actually collecting that occupational information about firefighters and then linking with the cancer outcomes and then trying to understand what it is about firefighting that is leading to an increased cancer risk.鈥�

Researchers have found of several cancers across the firefighting profession, and a group of World Health Organization researchers even the work as carcinogenic last year. While Fent praised the scholarship that鈥檚 out there, he was frank about some shortcomings.

鈥淢ost of the studies that have been done have included primarily white male firefighters from large municipal departments who were employed decades ago,鈥� he said.

That limits insights into the risks firefighting poses to women, people of color, volunteer firefighters, and wildland firefighters 鈥� 鈥渒nowledge gaps鈥� that were key motivators for creating the NFR, Fent said.

鈥淲e probably know the least about wildland firefighters and their long-term health outcomes,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ecause of that, it's especially important that we get wildland firefighters to enroll in the NFR.鈥�

To do the sort of rigorous analysis Fent hopes for, the registry has a goal of enrolling 200,000 people over the next several years 鈥� and some 10 to 15,000 with wildland experience. As of late May, some 5,000 had registered, 16% of whom had worked on wildfires.

鈥楪et in the system鈥�

One of them is Pete 鈥淒utch鈥� Dutchick, chair of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters鈥� health and wellbeing subcommittee.

Dutchick does training and workforce development now, but has spent most of his 20-year wildfire career out in the woods, either with 鈥� large squads of up to 20 people tasked with digging and sawing miles of fireline 鈥� or smokejumping.

鈥淲hat that looks like is you're waking up early, usually between 5 and 6,鈥� he said of a typical line shift. 鈥淵ou're sleeping outside, so you're sleeping in the smoke, in the elements 鈥� You're grabbing a quick bite, maybe a cup of coffee, and then you're headed out to the line for the day. And again, you're just consistently, often surrounded by the smoke, the dust."

  A firefighter sprays out flames on the 2021 Windy Fire in California.
Mike McMillan
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BIA
A firefighter sprays out flames on the 2021 Windy Fire in California.

He had firefighters under him whose safety he was responsible for, and then the birth of his daughter brought his health concerns into further relief.

鈥淩eally what was the turning point for me was losing close friends and former coworkers to cancer that were either right around my age or maybe just a little older,鈥� he said.

He called the registry an 鈥渆normous step in moving things forward.鈥� While he found parts of the questionnaire difficult to respond to, he said he鈥檚 hopeful that feedback from users will steadily improve it.

鈥淢y message would be, you know, get in there and give it a try,鈥� he added. 鈥淕et in the system.鈥�

One more enrollee 

And that鈥檚 exactly what I did.

In a past life, I did a short season with an engine crew and three full seasons with a handcrew, both based in southeast Idaho. I often worried about the long-term health implications, and would fruitlessly Google around in the postseason looking for insight.

Like Dutchick, I found it difficult to recall some details of seasons long past on the NFR questionnaire. But I did my best, and after about 30 minutes clicked "submit."

One more firefighter enrolled 鈥� many thousands to go.
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Murphy Woodhouse