On the treacherous frontlines of the Tubbs Fire that roared through Santa Rosa two years ago, many firefighters left behind the gear that shields them from the harmful chemicals associated with urban fires: the blaze burned so hot and fast, they had to move quicker than the weight would allow.
One-hundred and eighty firefighters who fought Northern California fires during the last two fall seasons are part of a new study facilitated in part by Sharyle Patton, a longtime Bolinas resident and the director of the Biomonitoring Resource Center at Commonweal.
Last month, Ms. Patton received the highest “white helmet” award from the San Francisco Firefighter Cancer Prevention Foundation for her work over the past two decades to address the elevated health risks associated with fighting fires.
“Watching Sharyle and the others take that award was somewhat of a turning point: beyond wondering if there is evidence, we are moving closer toward how we take better of ourselves, of our families,” said Heather Buren, a lieutenant with the San Francisco Fire Department who participated in another recent study on which Ms. Patton worked, involving women firefighters in San Francisco.
Ms. Patton received the award along with her partner, Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. The award, which went to five recipients this year, is the highest honor issued by the foundation.
Ms. Patton is not a scientist by trade, but she has focused her life’s work on research and regulatory reform related to carcinogens and other harmful chemicals. She has worked for the past 30 years under the umbrella of Commonweal, the multi-faceted nonprofit founded by her husband Michael Lerner. Through Commonweal, she is able to generate funds from various foundations to commission studies with teams of scientists.
After 9/11, Ms. Patton decided to direct her efforts toward the people who receive constant, high exposure.
“There’s no longer just fire season in California,” she said. “Now fires can occur almost year-round, especially during drought conditions. Because of climate change and drier forests, these fires can burn longer and hotter than in previous years. The combination of wildland and structural fires that occurred in the Tubbs fire and at Paradise are particularly of concern because of the kinds of chemicals that might be released.”
Firefighters are exposed to a host of different chemicals. Ms. Patton’s research focuses on perfluorinated compounds—PFCs—which are found in some types of foams used to douse flames. These compounds, which are linked to cancer, are also found in waterproof carpets and fabric, some types of nonstick cookware, paint, food packing materials and more.
Flame retardants, common in a range of household goods, are another huge concern.
“Some flame retardants we are concerned about are already known carcinogens; others can produce chemicals considered to be carcinogens when they burn at certain temperatures,” Ms. Patton explained. Another reason to study these chemicals is because they can diminish the overall effectiveness of the immune system, she added.
Many of the recent fires in California are “wildland-urban interface fires,” exposing firefighters to fine particulate matter not only from burning wood, but from all of the materials in our built environments. For structural fires—say those involving a stationary burning building—firefighters often use a self-contained breathing apparatus that provides clean air; that apparatus and the rest of their turn-out gear can together weigh up to 70 pounds.
For forest fires, which typically travel faster, firefighters wear lighter gear, including various types of respirators, in order to move fast.
Yet despite the heightened exposure dangers of wildland-urban interface fires, firefighters are often forced to choose the lighter gear—and even go without any mask at all, Ms. Patton said. They need visibility, and they need to move fast.
Then there is the problem of fine particulates sticking to gear. In another study Ms. Patton helped facilitate, scientists examined the dust found in firefighting living quarters, which was brought in on clothes and gear. The nationwide study—which Ms. Patton completed in 2017 in collaboration with the International Association of Firefighters and scientists from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control—found higher levels of flame retardants in dust found in firehouses than the dust present in airplanes and residences.
Better cleaning practices can help this continued exposure, Ms. Patton said.
This fall, she is expecting to publish a study that compares the levels of toxins in 80 women firefighters in the San Francisco area to those found in the same number of office workers and nurses. Her collaborators included the Women Firefighters Biomonitoring Collaborative with United Fire Service Women, the Silent Spring Institute at UCSF, and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners.
Yet another study, related to the Northern California fires of 2017 and 2018, is also in the works. Ms. Patton said she gives all her study participants the right to see the results first, and she helps connect them with medical services.
Ms. Buren, the lieutenant with the San Francisco Fire Department, said the past six years have seen a tremendous growth in awareness about cancer in the field, in part thanks to Ms. Patton’s research and her commitment to making sure the science trickles down to the people who are most affected.
Ms. Buren said firefighters can have a hard time talking about cancer, even though she is used to attending funerals for current and retired duty officers who have lost their battles with the disease.
“Firefighters have this way of removing ourselves from the death and destruction and chaos around us,” she said. “Every call we respond to is everyone’s worst nightmare. So it’s very instinctive, you take your emotion out of it, you say, ‘That would never be me.’”
She went on, “That mixed with the fact that we always think if we die, it will be in glory: we are the people who run into a burning building when everyone is running out. But what it looks like when you die from cancer is none of those things—it is none of those things. This is why it was really difficult to start to talk about.”