NPR | "Study: firefighters recognize long-term health risks, but have questions about possible wildland respirator"
NPR interviewed UCLA Fielding's Dr. Rachael Jones, chair in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about her work on firefighter safety.
NPR (Mountain West News) interviewed UCLA Fielding's Dr. Rachael Jones, professor and chair in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about her research into wildland firefighters' use of respirators as personal protective equipment.
“One of the key things that we found is actually that firefighters were not fundamentally opposed to the idea of respiratory protection, because they were all very well aware of health hazards,” said Rachael Jones, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and co-author of a recent paper on firefighter attitudes toward respirators.
But, she said, firefighters do have some concerns.
“When to use it, how can you use it without decreasing your ability to perceive your safety risks?” Jones said. “And how can you use it without significantly increasing your fatigue or level of exertion?”
