Abstract
This article constitutes part of a comprehensive firefighter exposure study undertaken by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the request of the U.S. Fire Administration. An earlier study reported the detection of a wide variety of contaminants during knockdown and overhaul phases of structural fires (Jankovic et al.: Ann. Occup. Hyg. 35:581; 1991). This article describes a chemiluminescence (CL)-based field methodology for detecting short-lived reactive intermediates in the fire atmosphere. The results demonstrate the presence of short-lived, hence reactive, chemical species even when no smoke was visible. Additionally, electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopic measurements on filter samples collected from the same fires demonstrate the presence of long-lived (half-life of several days) organic-free radicals whose concentration correlates with the amount of smoke in the atmosphere. The presence of CL-detected short-lived reactive intermediates and ESR-detected long-lived radicals provides a plausible mechanism to explain the known phenomena of “incapacitation without cause” as well as chronic lung injury related to smoke inhalation.