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Union-backed biomonitoring study samples 179 firefighters after North Bay fires; preliminary heavy-metal testing nearly complete
Summary
Local 798 and the Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation funded rapid biomonitoring after the North Bay wildfires; 179 firefighters were sampled, preliminary tests for heavy metals and flame-retardant chemicals are in progress, and a subset of 75 will be tested for PFAS/POPs with state lab support.
Adam Wood, a representative of Local 798 and the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, told the commission that the foundation and academic partners rapidly organized biomonitoring after October’s North Bay wildfires to assess potential toxic exposures for deployed firefighters.
The foundation provided $100,000 to underwrite initial work and UC Berkeley researchers fast-tracked institutional review by accepting the pilot as a sub-study under an existing biomonitoring protocol, enabling quicker sampling. Sampling centers were established in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and the South Bay; outreach efforts and one-on-one recruitment produced 179 samples, including roughly 20 non-deployed comparison subjects and 64 sampled from San Francisco crews.
"All of those 179 samples are gonna be tested for heavy metals and a couple of chemicals... cadmium, lead, manganese, mercury, uranium, and then polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)," Wood said. He added that the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has provided funding and lab time so an identified subset of 75 highly-exposed participants can receive expanded testing for persistent organic pollutants and perfluorinated substances (PFAS).
Wood said preliminary heavy-metal testing was nearly complete at the time of the presentation and that researchers will issue a public preliminary report to the Bay Area Firefighter Network on April 11 in Oakland. Commissioners commended the speed and collaboration of unions, researchers and the department and suggested establishing standing protocols for near-event sampling in future urban-wildland incidents.
The commission did not adopt new policy at the meeting but encouraged sharing results with the department and exploring funding and institutional approaches to make sampling routinely available during large deployments.
