Firefighters have become increasingly concerned with exposures to toxic fireground contaminants due to the increasing prevalence of cancer in fire service. Firefighters have many different opportunities to be exposed to toxicants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenols, and phthalates among many others. One often overlooked exposure pathway is through the protective materials, themselves. Once a turnout ensemble goes into a fire scene, it is contaminated with soot particles that contain any number of toxicants that can then be transferred back to the firefighter through off-gassing or dermal contact. This research aimed to develop validated analytical approaches to identify and quantify the types of contaminants present on field-worn gear. Extraction methods were developed for both pressurized solvent extraction and thermal extraction through headspace sampling.
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