PHOTO: BO BROOKS
FOREST, RANGELAND AND FIRE SCIENCES
Wildland Firefighter Health Studies Gain National Attention
Using Technology to Improve Safety on Logging Sites
RESEARCH LOOKS AT ROLE OF FATIGUE, DIET IN FIRE SITE ACCIDENTS
PROJECT AIMS TO HELP PREVENT AND DETECT ACCIDENTS
As fire seasons grow longer, wildland firefighters are getting really tired. Randy Brooks knows exactly how tired. This summer, the forestry professor tracked 18 smokejumpers with the help of advanced motion monitors that use an algorithmic fatigue model originally developed for the U.S. military.
Logging is the most dangerous profession in the United States. Associate Professor Rob Keefe is leading research to use technology to make harvesting timber safer. Loggers work in remote areas, and one practical way to improve safety is simply increasing awareness among coworkers where their colleagues are at any given time, especially in relation to falling trees, moving equipment and logs, and other jobsite hazards.
The Associated Press got wind of Brooks’ work in August and the resulting article was published in more than 65 media outlets across the country. “Ultimately, I hope this research, and the attention it has received, will help save lives,” Brooks said. Both of Brooks’ sons are wildland firefighters. After a tragic fire killed three fellow firefighters in 2015, Bo Brooks asked his father if he could help through research. So Randy Brooks and doctoral student Callie Collins started with a survey of more than 400 wildland firefighters that pointed to fatigue as one of the main contributors to accidents. A pilot study followed in summer 2017 with nine smokejumpers who were outfitted with motion monitors that keep detailed data on sleep and activity. The firefighters spent more than 42 percent of a month working in impaired conditions with reaction times slowed by 34 to 100 percent. They also lost muscle mass over the season, despite their physically demanding work and high caloric input. Brooks’ team followed 18 smokejumpers in summer 2018 and plans to expand the project in 2019 to follow as many as 100 firefighters as well as explore possible interventions.
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WINTER 2018 - 19
With the help of an $825,000 grant from the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Keefe’s team has been developing ways to use GPS-based devices to increase that location awareness among logging crews. “The great thing is there are now multiple technologies we can use to map people and equipment in the woods where there’s no cell service,” said Keefe. “We can go through satellites and use miniature radios that pair with your phone to allow safety apps to work offline.” Keefe and doctoral student Eloise Zimbelman recently received a grant from the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center to use GPS activity watches, like those made by Garmin and Fitbit, to monitor work activities and send alerts to coworkers nearby if a possible accident has occurred on logging site.
