Answering an Important Reader Question
Issue 1 Volume 21 | April 10, 2026
A reader recently asked: One of my coworkers asked a question, and I thought you’d be the one to know. She was wondering if there was any research being done or anything that tracks your exposure while on scene? She was thinking like a finger-prick blood test before going on scene, immediately finished, and then going to bed to see how long it stays in the system and the levels exposed to. Are you aware of anything like that?
I did answer this person directly, but wanted to share the answer as it is relevant to all fire investigators everywhere.
* * * * *
This question addresses two different things: exposure tracking and biological sampling.
For the first one, every fire investigation is an exposure, and if you go in, take a break, then go back in and work more, that’s two exposures. The best way to track exposures is with the University of Miami’s free Personal Exposure Reporter, available in your app store. Because people often have multiple employers over their career, and most adverse health effects from this job do not appear for many years, the best practice is for the worker to keep track of their exposure records and not rely on or assume that their employer is doing it. Tracking can also be done using a simple Excel spreadsheet or a notebook. And then their family/friends need to know that 1) the person has had adverse occupational health exposures, and 2) that there is a record of them available should they get sick.
Biological sampling can tell a lot, but it requires lab testing, which carries a cost, and not just any lab can test for what we need. The two most common sampling methods are blood and urine. Blood is better for things with a long half-life, such as PFAS, and urine is better for things with a short half-life, such as PAHs. Both of these can be bad for us. But both methods have significant limitations. The most notable is that both will include diet and environmental factor exposures, which makes it hard to say what is attributable to the fire or the post-fire scene. There are studies underway that collect and analyze samples, but none yet specifically for fire investigators on these two sampling types. A better measure of post-fire scene exposure is obtained using silicone wristbands.
A few years ago, the University of Miami conducted a small survey of public and private fire investigators in North Carolina using silicone wristbands (35 samples) and found some interesting results regarding PAH exposures. The other issue is that all of these are testing for chemicals. The harmful substances found in our blood and urine are introduced through ingestion or inhalation. The wristbands measure exposure associated with dermal absorption. Nothing measures particulate levels, which can be introduced into the body through all three means and may not be adequately represented in testing results. There is no field test available for particulates by quantity or composition.
The research community recognizes that more sampling of fire investigator exposures is needed, but research takes time and money. Fire investigators represent the smallest subgroup of the overall fire service workforce and are often underrepresented in scientific research. Given that fire investigators spend extended periods at fire scenes and are sometimes less well protected by PPE, it is critical to better understand their exposures, health conditions, and safety practices within this specialized subgroup of the workforce.
The Fire Investigator Comprehensive Occupational (FICO) Health and Safety Assessment is a three-year study being conducted by the University of Miami’s (UM) Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and funded by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through its Aid to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. This comprehensive, first-of-its-kind research, exclusively focused on the fire investigator occupation, seeks to collect and analyze foundational survey data, environmental exposure information, and biological samples to inform best practices for the fire investigator workforce and future research needs.
DISCLAIMER: I have been a supporter of the University of Miami’s fire service research efforts for many years. I chair the advisory board for the FICO study and serve on the advisory board of their Firefighter Cancer Initiative.