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The U.S. House last week passed a bill to expand medical benefits for federal firefighters who are diagnosed with medical conditions linked to wildfire exposure. The bill, which has been languishing in Congress for 20 years, would create a presumption that 16 medical conditions, including several cancers and cardiovascular diseases, developed because of their work fighting fires. That presumption would make it much easier for retired firefighters to receive workers' compensation benefits.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico, whose district is home to the largest active fire in the country right now, said on the House floor that the federal firefighters in her district deserve the same benefits as state and local ones as they're exposed to smoke and toxic chemicals for months.
“You expect that call from the U.S. Forest Service that says ‘I’m so sorry, we lost your husband while he was doing his job,’” said Audrey Watt, whose husband Matthew spent 10 years with an elite Forest Service firefighting unit, and died from esophogeal cancer in March. “Yes, he loved his job, but his job also gave him this cancer that he couldn’t do anything to prevent.”
The health risks may not be limited to firefighters. A new study published in The Lancet medical journal this week concluded that long-term exposure to wildfires may raise the chances of developing lung or brain cancer. The study tracked more than 2 million Canadians and found that those living within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of a wildfire had a 4.9 percent higher incidence of lung cancer and 10 percent greater incidence of brain tumors compared to people who were not exposed to wildfires.
How bad are this year's wildfires so far?
New Mexico's Calf Canyon-Hermits Peaks Fire is now officially the largest fire in state history. The fire has grown to nearly 300,000 acres and was 27% contained as of Monday evening. NPR notes that the 2022 fire season so far is "not unprecedented" across the West, but the current megadrought, which is the driest in 1,200 years and exacerbated by human-caused climate change, has set the stage for a destructive and smoky summer.
"From a fire perspective, the dice are now loaded for another big fire year in 2022," said UCLA professor Park Williams. "It's likely that 2022 is going to go down as another year that reminds us that fire is inevitable."
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Instead of just trying to suppress fire as we have historically done, we need to search for innovative solutions to changing wildfire behavior. The encouragement of beaver populations on federal lands may be one tool of many to help us on our path forward to becoming fire resilient communities."
