ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Every year thousands of wildland firefighters (WFFs) work to suppress wildfires to protect public safety, health, and property. Although much effort has been put toward

mitigating air pollutant exposures for the public and WFFs, the current burden in this worker population is unclear as are the most effective exposure reduction strategies. OBJECTIVE

Quantify fireline carbon monoxide (CO) exposures in WFFs and identify predictors of exposures. METHODS We collected 1-min breathing zone CO measurements on 246 WFFs assigned to fires between

2015 and 2017. We used generalized estimating equations to evaluate predictors of CO exposure. RESULTS Approximately 5% of WFFs had fireline CO exposure means exceeding the National

Specific job tasks related to direct suppression and WFF perceptions of smoke exposure are potential opportunities for targeted interventions aimed at minimizing exposure to smoke. Access

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SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS WILDFIRE SMOKE IMPACTS RESPIRATORY HEALTH MORE THAN FINE PARTICLES FROM OTHER SOURCES: OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Article Open

access 05 March 2021 ESTIMATION OF HOSPITAL VISITS FOR RESPIRATORY DISEASES ATTRIBUTABLE TO PM10 FROM VEGETATION FIRE SMOKE AND HEALTH IMPACTS OF REGULATORY INTERVENTION IN UPPER NORTHERN

THAILAND Article Open access 02 November 2022 EXPLORING THE ADVERSE EFFECT OF FINE PARTICULATE MATTER (PM2.5) ON WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS’ PULMONARY FUNCTION AND DNA DAMAGE Article Open access

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to the WFFs who volunteered to participate in this study. FUNDING This work was supported by the US Forest Service National Technology and Development

Program (18-CR-11138100-023), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (R21OH011385), and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM130418). The findings and

conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention. Mention of any company name or product does not constitute endorsement by NIOSH/CDC. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and

should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy. This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and it

is therefore in the public domain and not subject to copyright. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Center for Population Health Research, School of Public and Community Health

Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA Erin O. Semmens, Cindy S. Leary & Curtis W. Noonan * National Technology and Development Program, United States Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula, MT, USA Molly R. West & Joseph W. Domitrovich * Western States Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, Denver, CO, USA Kathleen M. Navarro Authors * Erin O. Semmens View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Cindy S. Leary

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Molly R. West View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Curtis W. Noonan View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Kathleen M. Navarro View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Joseph W. Domitrovich View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS Conceptualization, ES, CL, MW, CN, JD;

methodology, ES, CL, MW, JD; formal analysis, ES, CL; data curation, MW, JD; writing—original draft preparation, ES, CL, MW, KN; writing—review and editing, ES, CL, MW, CN, KN, JD; ES and CL

have accessed and verified the underlying data. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript to its final version. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Erin O. Semmens. ETHICS

DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in

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Semmens, E.O., Leary, C.S., West, M.R. _et al._ Carbon monoxide exposures in wildland firefighters in the United States and targets for exposure reduction. _J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol_ 31,

923–929 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00371-z Download citation * Received: 09 March 2021 * Revised: 01 July 2021 * Accepted: 07 July 2021 * Published: 20 July 2021 * Issue

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Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * Wildland firefighter *

Carbon monoxide * Prevention * Occupational