Risk Management

Wildland fire control and suppression techniques contribute to the reduction of human health costs. Prescribed fire practices are designed to produce minimal human health threats. The USDA Forest Service publishes smoke management guidelines that instruct land managers in the best ways to reduce the health costs of prescribed burns (Hardy, Hermann, and Mutch 2001). Numerous techniques are available to land and fire managers for preventing and reducing the potential for water pollution. The Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) program includes treatments to prevent or reduce sedimentation of water sources in areas affected by wildland fires (Landsberg and Tiedemann 2000). Workers at prescribed fires use techniques that protect water supplies including “limiting fire severity, avoiding burning on steep slopes, and limiting burning on sandy or potentially water repellent soils” (Landsberg and Tiedemann 2000: 126).

Despite the best efforts of fire workers, biomass smoke sometimes reaches unhealthy levels in populated areas. When air quality does exceed healthy limits, officials issue health alerts (Machlis 2000). In order to avoid excessive exposure in such cases it has been recommended that:

• Outdoor gatherings and activities be curtailed during smoke episodes.
• Exercising outdoors is avoided where there high levels of biomass smoke are present (Therriault 2001). Exercisers are vulnerable to higher doses of air pollutants because they tend to breathe through their mouth and to inhale faster and deeper bringing more pollutants into the lungs.
• Public health officials recommend that people stay indoors during smoke episodes either in clean air shelters or in homes with clean air (Therriault 2001).

Outdoor air pollution can penetrate indoor areas. Indoor air pollution should be minimized by:

• avoiding smoking tobacco and minimizing burning fossil fuels for heat, for cooking, or for light
• using an effective air filters to clean particulate matter and harmful gases from indoor air such as the air conditioner, HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate) filters,or portable and electronic air cleaners (Therriault 2001)

In some cases, it is necessary to evacuate people who live in an area where biomass smoke has reached unhealthy levels. Evacuation reduces exposure to harmful air pollutants by moving people from sites with high levels of pollution to places with better air quality. Evacuation is feasible for some members of a community but there may be socio-economic barriers that hinder others from evacuating such as job responsibilities and economic limitations (Mott and others 1999).

People who experience adverse health effects from air pollution seek care in hospital emergency rooms and are sometimes admitted to hospitals for respiratory (Patz, Engelberg, and Last 2000) and other illnesses. Some people suffering from adverse consequences of biomass smoke seek care from private physicians.

Protecting the Health of the Firefighter

Many firefighter deaths are preventable. Deaths related to vehicle accidents, for example, could be reduced if firefighters have adequate driver safety training and obey traffic laws such as using seatbelts and not speeding (NFPA 2004). Firefighter deaths related to heart failure could be prevented with adequate health and safety programs (NFPA 2004).

Several programs and organizations address firefighter safety. One example is the Fire Fighter Fatality and Investigation Program established by the National Institutes for Safety and Health in 1998 to understand and prevent firefighter injuries and deaths. Another example is the Federal Fire and Aviation Safety Team who, together with the National Interagency Fire Center, publishes “6 Minutes to Safety”, a web-based program whose objective is to educate firefighters in the most up-to-date safety initiatives. The National Interagency Fire Center maintains SAFENET, a system whose objective is to ensure firefighter safety by enabling all firefighters to report unsafe working conditions. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) provides safety training for firefighters, posts web-based safety alerts.

Wildland firefighters use the following strategies to cope with stress (Fox and Bowlus 1996: 44-45):

• 91% “concentrate on other things”
• 88% exercise
• 88% “think about how things could have been different if different actions would have been taken by the individual”
• 87% “talk about the incident with coworkers”
• 86% “talk with family and friends”
• 86% “think about the humorous aspects of the event”
• 85% “try to be more helpful to others”

Decreasing Psychological Stress

Fire-adapted communities may be a useful concept for measuring a group’s level of fire preparedness and capacity for coping with a fire.

Forest fires have the potential to galvanize or fragment communities. Communities who have low amounts of the kinds of capital that is useful for responding positively to fire events (social, natural, financial, and other types of capital) may have the highest risk of being adversely affected by forest fires. ‘Traditional’ types of communities may have more capacity to recover from a fire event. In contrast, newer communities, such as in a wildland-urban interface composed of recent in-migrants, may have less capacity to adjust after a fire.

Cooperation among people can catalyze a community’s recovery from disasters (Oliver-Smith 1996). For instance, joining together to rehabilitate land burned in a wildland fire can have a healing effect for a community (Machlis 2002). Social bonds may be strengthened among people who cooperate during a wildland fire and in preparation for or recovery from a wildland fire.

Strong social networks can serve as support systems helping individuals cope with the physical, psychological, and other effects of forest fires. On the other hand, weak or vulnerable social networks might create additional stress. Often, community members as well as local and extra-local organizations assist individuals with treating physical injuries and repairing material damages. Assistance with psychological issues may be an explicit target of aid or it may occur as a byproduct of other forms of assistance.

Aid organizations can help mitigate psychological distress among people who have suffered injuries and loss due to forest fires (Machlis 2002). On the other hand, the “strange people” in disaster relief organizations who enter a community to deliver aid or repair damage can be a source of stress for local residents (Oliver-Smith 1996). It is possible that fire management crews, like aid organizations, and the materials that they bring with them cause stress for residents of communities located near fire events. The sights and sounds of equipment arriving to fight a fire may cause the recurrence of fear among people who have prior experiences with wildland fires (Machlis 2002). Conversely, communities located near fire events may benefit from expanded employment opportunities created when fire management organizations move into an area and hire local people (Machlis 2002). The influx of fire management crews into communities has the potential to generate revenue for the community by purchasing goods from local stores and patronizing local businesses.

Fires pose growing threats to the physical and psychological wellbeing of communities as a whole and individuals within communities. By 2002, about 1800 communities in the wildland-urban interface of the United States were targeted for fuel reduction programs. These communities are in locations where there is a high risk for disastrous wildland fires and the consequent effects on physical and psychosocial health.