Medical Care at California Wildfire Incident Base Camps

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Howard D. Backer ◽  
Charles Wright ◽  
Jialin Dong ◽  
Nathaniel Baba ◽  
Honda McFadden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Constant Factor ◽  
Personal Health Information ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Medical Needs ◽  
Medical Visits ◽  
Base Camp ◽  
Clinical Conditions ◽  
Poison Oak

Abstract Objective: The California Emergency Medical Services Authority manages and deploys California Medical Assistance Teams (CAL-MAT) to disaster medical incidents in the state. This analysis reviews diagnoses for ambulatory medical visits at multiple wildland fire incident base camp field sites in California during the 2020 fire season. Methods: Clinical data without personal health information were extracted retrospectively from patient care records from all patients seen by a provider. Results were entered into Excel spreadsheets with calculation of summary statistics. Results: During the 2020 fire season, CAL-MAT teams deployed 21 times for a total of 327 days to base camps supporting large fire incidents and cared for 1756 patients. Impacts of heat and environmental smoke are a constant factor near wildfires; however, our most common medical problem was rhus dermatitis (54.5%) due to poison oak. All 2020 medical missions were further complicated by prevention and management of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Conclusions: There is very little literature regarding the acute medical needs facing responders fighting wildland fires. Ninety-five percent of clinical conditions presenting to a field medical team at the wildfire incident base camp during a severe fire season in California can be managed by small teams operating in field tents.

Seasonal changes in wildland firefighter fitness and body composition

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Steven E. Gaskill ◽  
Charles L. Dumke ◽  
Charles G. Palmer ◽  
Brent C. Ruby ◽  
Joseph W. Domitrovich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Aerobic Fitness ◽  
Ventilatory Threshold ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Load Carriage ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Exercise Treadmill

Hiking with a pack is the highest-intensity task that wildland firefighters (WLFFs) perform during sustained activities related to wildland fire suppression. Firefighters perform this and other tasks together as a crew; this provides a unique model to evaluate select physical and physiological changes in members of working crews over a fire season during extended operations. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in peak aerobic fitness (VO2peak), sustainable aerobic fitness at the ventilatory threshold (VO2vt) and body composition over a 5-month wildland fire season. WLFFs from four crews (55 males, 10 females) participated in a maximal graded exercise treadmill test and body composition evaluation pre- and post season. VO2peak values and variance did not change across the fire season (pre=3.96±0.65, post=3.96±0.69Lmin−1, not significant). VO2vt average decreased slightly while variance decreased greatly within each crew (pre=37.5±7.0, post=35.4±2.3mLkg−1 min−1, P<0.05). There was an improvement in VO2vt in initially less-fit WLFFs and a VO2vt decrease in initially more-fit WLFFs. WLFFs lost fat mass (−1.56±−1.06kg, P<0.01) and fat-free mass (−0.38±−1.24kg, P<0.05). Post-season VO2vt values were the same as the higher range of the documented metabolic cost of uphill load carriage and reveal a unique group adaptation to extended physical demands.

Base Camp Personnel Exposure to Particulate Matter During Wildland Fire Suppression Activities

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcy L. McNamara ◽  
Erin O. Semmens ◽  
Steven Gaskill ◽  
Charles Palmer ◽  
Curtis W. Noonan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Base Camp

Wildfire Management and Forecasting Fire Potential: The Roles of Climate Information and Social Networks in the Southwest United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gigi Owen ◽  
Jonathan D. McLeod ◽  
Crystal A. Kolden ◽  
Daniel B. Ferguson ◽  
Timothy J. Brown
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

Abstract Continuing progress in the fields of meteorology, climatology, and fire ecology has enabled more proactive and risk-tolerant wildland fire management practices in the United States. Recent institutional changes have also facilitated the incorporation of more advanced climate and weather research into wildland fire management. One of the most significant changes was the creation of Predictive Services in 1998, a federal interagency group composed, in part, of meteorologists who create climate- and weather-based fire outlooks tailored to fire manager needs. Despite the numerous forecast products now available to fire managers, few studies have examined how these products have affected their practices. In this paper the authors assess how fire managers in the Southwest region of the United States perceive and incorporate different types of information into their management practices. A social network analysis demonstrates that meteorologists have become central figures in disseminating information in the regional interagency fire management network. Interviews and survey data indicate that person-to-person communication during planning phases prior to the primary fire season is key to Predictive Services’ success in supporting fire managers’ decision making. Over several months leading up to the fire season, predictive forecasts based on complex climate, fuels, and fire-risk models are explained to fire managers and updated through frequent communication. The study’s findings suggest that a significant benefit of the information sharing process is the dialogue it fosters among fire managers, locally, regionally, and nationally, which better prepares them to cooperate and strategically plan for the fire season.

Mid-season physical fitness profile of interagency hotshot firefighters

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie M. Sell ◽  
Bequi Livingston
Keyword(s):  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Vertical Jump ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Fitness Parameters ◽  
Fitness Training ◽  
Hamstring Flexibility

The purpose of this study was to generate a physical fitness profile of an interagency hotshot crew mid-way through the wildland fire season. Twenty interagency hotshot crew firefighters completed measures of body composition, aerobic fitness, hamstring flexibility, muscular strength, explosive strength and muscular endurance. Firefighters exhibited 12.9 ± 2.3% body fat, scored 9.4 ± 0.4 min on the 1.5-mile (2.41 km) run, 48.8 ± 5.3 cm on the sit-and-reach test, 63.7 ± 8.2 kg and 58.7 ± 7.6 kg for right- and left-hand grip strength, and 55.9 ± 9.9 cm on the vertical jump. Firefighters scored 45 ± 12 for push-ups, 60 ± 6 for sit-ups and 13 ± 4 for pull-ups. All fitness scores were at or above average compared with sex- and age-corrected norms, and interagency hotshot crew-specific recommendations for completion of the 1.5-mile run, push-up, sit-up and pull-up tests. Although these data provide a cross-sectional gauge of mid-season fitness parameters, it is unclear how the occupational stresses of the job alter common measures of fitness in interagency hotshot crews. Future research may help highlight seasonal fluctuations in physical fitness, and the effect of physical fitness training on fitness parameters throughout the fire season.

Behaviour of fire weather indices in the 2009–10 New Zealand wildland fire season

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Simpson ◽  
H. Grant Pearce ◽  
Andrew P. Sturman ◽  
Peyman Zawar-Reza
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Model ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
The North

The Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale atmospheric model was used to investigate fire weather conditions during the 2009–10 New Zealand wildland fire season. The analysis considered New Zealand's version of the Fire Weather Index used in the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System, the Haines Index (HI) and the Continuous Haines Index (CHI). This represents the first investigation in New Zealand of the HI and CHI, which rate the potential for extreme fire behaviour or large fire growth based on the lower tropospheric atmospheric stability and humidity. The wildland fire activity during the 2009–10 fire season was typical of New Zealand, and there was considerable spatial and temporal variability in the fire weather conditions. The most frequent severe fire weather conditions as quantified by the fire weather indices occurred to the east of the dividing mountain ranges in both the North Island and South Island, and were associated with the hot, dry and windy north-westerly foehn winds that commonly affect New Zealand. The 36 wildland fires greater in area than 5 ha during the 2009–10 fire season occurred under a range of fire weather conditions, and no correlation was found between the wildland fire size and each individual weather variable.

Are the nonmedical needs of cancer patients satisfied adequately.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e18283-e18283
Author(s):  
Monika Rucinska ◽  
Karolina Osowiecka ◽  
Radoslaw Sroda ◽  
Arian Saied ◽  
Magdalena Milobedzka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Malignant Neoplasm ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Psychological Support ◽  
Professional Support ◽  
Proper Solution ◽  
Cancer Disease ◽  
Medical Needs

e18283 Background: Cancer is a global health care problem. Cancer disease is not only medical problem, there are a lot of areas in human life that cancer has influence on. The rationale for this study was to identified non-medical needs among cancer patients during treatment and assessment of who helps patients. Methods: The study was carried out on a group of 346 patients who were being treated for malignant neoplasm in five oncological centers in Poland. A questionnaire was prepared specifically for this study and each patient was interviewed individually. The questionnaire was validated on a group of 20 patients. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. All of the participants had submitted a signed consent form. Results: There were analyzed 164 women and 180 men (2 no date), median age 65 years. 79% of patients could have hoped for psychological support, most of them received psychological support from partner/family (88%) and friends (31%), less from psychologist (28%) and priest (5%). Half of patients (52%) had a need for social support, 42% of them received social support from partner/family, 12% from friends and only 7% from a social worker. One third of patients (30%) received support from a dietician. The help from a physiotherapist were given to 20% of patients. In the analysis of different factors it was noticed that women more often than men got help from psychologist and physiotherapist (p < 0.05). Some of patients (16%) did not know that they could get help in their non-medical needs. 80% of analyzed patients thought they need someone who would help them with the non-medical problems during their cancer disease. Conclusions: Cancer patients have some non-medical needs, but only a small part of them receives professional support. The proper solution could be a special person who may notice patients problems and coordinate professional support.

Mapping and comparing wildfire progressions using freely available, multi-source satellite data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Crowley ◽  
Jeffrey Cardille ◽  
Joanne White ◽  
Michael Wulder
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Optical Data ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Area Classification

&lt;p&gt;Extreme wildfire seasons are becoming the new normal in Canada, and satellite imagery is a useful way to map these fires as they grow across the vast, fire-prone regions of the country. However, single-date and single-sourced imagery of active fires often contain clouds, flares, smoke, and haze that can create challenges for monitoring &amp;#160;burned areas over time. To address this gap, we applied rapid and scalable methods for synthesizing information on fire progressions using freely available satellite imagery, novel image fusion algorithms, and cloud-based data processing platforms. We identified images from Landsat-7, -8, Sentinel-2, and MODIS (MCD64A1 burned-area dataset) for the 2017 and 2018 British Columbia fire seasons that intersect the buffered extents of Canadian wildfires as determined by Canadian National Fire Database. We classified each raw image individually using a standard burned-area classification protocol related to each data source. We used the Bayesian Updating of Land Cover Classifications (BULC) algorithm to create coherent time series from the single-date classifications of optical data sources in Google Earth Engine. From the BULC classification stack, we calculated within-year, intra-annual fire progression metrics to compare satellite-derived fire behaviours between the 2017 and 2018 fire seasons, both at the whole fire season and the individual fire level. End-of-season burned-area estimates corresponded with estimates derived from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) product that is generated retrospectively from best-available fire mapping approaches. Additionally, we compared the BULC time series with fire progression estimates from MCD64A1 burned-area dataset to evaluate the influence of spatial resolution on burned-area estimates. Information outputs from this research enable cross-validation of fire behaviour models for different fire seasons and comparison of fire progression metrics between historic fires and fire seasons in Canada. The approach presented can be used to provide rapid and reliable information about active wildland fire progressions to better understand fire growth and associated drivers.&lt;/p&gt;

Vulnerable Children: Parents' Perspectives and the Use of Medical Care

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 956-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice C. Levy
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Medical Problem ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Fear Of Recurrence ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Medical Visits ◽  
Parent Concerns ◽  
High Level ◽  
Record Review

In a study of use of five general pediatric services, 750 parents were interviewed on site about their decisions on how and when to seek medical care for their children. Parents' fears that a particular child was "vulnerable"—ie, uniquely threatened by an episode of illness—was a recurrent concern (reported by 27%), explaining many of their medical visits. Medical record review indicated that in 40%, there was no clinical basis for these parent concerns. One important source of these unwarranted concerns was fear of recurrence of an earlier medical problem, long since resolved. In some families, the role of social and environmental issues in generating a high level of concern was evident. Vulnerable children made more visits per year and made many more of their visits to the emergency room, and their parents more often expressed dissatisfaction with care received. Recognition of reasons underlying parents' sense of the child's special status may do much to allay unnecessary fears and promote more appropriate use of health care facilities.

scholarly journals Wildland fire potential outlooks for Portugal using meteorological indices of fire danger

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sílvia A. Nunes ◽  
Carlos C. DaCamara ◽  
Kamil F. Turkman ◽  
Teresa J. Calado ◽  
Ricardo M. Trigo
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Model ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Seasonal Forecasts ◽  
Vegetation Stress ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One

Abstract. Portugal is recurrently affected by large wildfire events that have serious impacts at the socio-economic and environmental levels and dramatic consequences associated with the loss of lives and the destruction of the landscape. Accordingly, seasonal forecasts are required to assist fire managers, thus contributing to alter the historically-based purely reactive response. In this context, we present and discuss a statistical model to estimate the probability that the total burned area during summer will exceed a given threshold. The statistical model uses meteorological information that rates the accumulation of thermal and vegetation stress. Outlooks for the 39-year study period (1980–2018) show that, when the statistical model is applied from May 26 to June 30, out of the six severe years, only one year is not anticipated as potentially severe and, out of the six weak years, only one is not anticipated as potentially weak. The availability of outlooks of wildfire potential with an anticipation of up to one month before the starting of the fire season, such as the one proposed here, may serve to provide clear directions for the fire community when planning prevention and combating fire events.

scholarly journals Rare and Extreme Wildland Fire in Sakha in 2021

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1572
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Hayasaka
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Strong Wind ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Favorable Conditions

A large-scale wildland fire occurred in Sakha in 2021. The results of fire analysis showed that the total number of hotspots in 2021 exceeded 267,000. This is about 5.8 times the average number of fires over the last 19 years since 2002. The largest daily number of hotspots in 2021 was 16,226, detected on 2 August. On 7 August, about half of the daily hotspots (52.6% = 8175/15,537 × 100) were detected in a highest fire density area (HFA, 62.5–65° N, 125–130° E) near Yakutsk under strong southeasterly wind (wind velocity about 12 m/s (43 km/h)). The results of weather analysis using various weather maps are as follows: The large meandering westerlies due to stagnant low-pressure systems in the Barents Sea brought high-pressure systems and warm air masses from the south to high latitudes, creating warm, dry conditions that are favorable conditions for fire. In addition to these, strong southeasterly winds at lower air levels blew which were related to the development of high-pressure systems in the Arctic Ocean. The HFA was located in the strong wind region (>8 m/s) of the v-wind map. The record-breaking Sakha fire season of 2021 is an example of extreme phenomena wrought by rapid climate change.

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