Application of End-Exhaled Breath Monitoring to Assess Carbon Monoxide Exposures of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed Burns

Abstract

Exposure to the range of combustion products from wildland fires has been demonstrated to cause respiratory irritation and decreased lung function among firefighters. The measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) has been previously shown to be highly correlated with the range of contaminants found in wildland fires. In this article, we assess the feasibility of using a simple, noninvasive biological test to assess exposure to CO for a group of wildland firefighters. Measurements of CO exposure were collected using personal monitors as well as in exhaled breath for wildland firefighters who conducted prescribed burns in February–March 2004. Overall, the CO concentrations measured in this study group were low with a shift mean of 1.87 ppm. Correspondingly, the cross-shift difference in carboxyhemoglobin as estimated from exhaled breath CO levels was also low (median increase =+0.2% carboxyhemoglobin). The use of exhaled breath measurements for CO has limitations in characterizing exposures within this worker population.

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and approved by the University of Georgia Institutional Review Board for the inclusion of human subjects. The authors gratefully acknowledge Jeff Prevey, Mark Frizzell, Dan Shea, John Blake, Chris Hobson, Jason Demas, and the firefighters participating in this study.