The reversal of a decades-old U.S. Forest Service policy means that federal wildland firefighters can now mask up if they want to — something Washington’s state wildland firefighters have been able to ...

The U.S. Forest Service will begin providing wildfire crews with masks to protect against smoke, reversing a decades-long policy banning protective gear after The New York Times spotlighted severe ...

The federal government will now allow its firefighters to mask up — upending a decades-long policy that had left them exposed to toxic flurries of illness-inducing wildfire smoke. The U.S. Forest ...

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth ...

A recent New York Times investigation found many wildfire fighters are getting cancer, cardiovascular diseases and some have even died because of the toxic smoke they inhaled while on the job.

For decades, federal firefighters have trudged and parachuted into wildfires with only “a bandana and a prayer,” as the saying goes, to protect them from inhaling dangerous toxins. Meanwhile, studies ...

The U.S. government will provide wildfire fighters with masks to protect against smoke — reversing a decades-long ban that exposed workers to toxins known to cause cancer and other serious diseases.

For decades, firefighters facing some of the state’s most destructive wildfires worked without proper masks or respirators, despite evidence showing long-term health risks from wildfire smoke. That’s ...