WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, M.D. (OR-03), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, alongside Jared Huffman (CA-02), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Joe Neguse (CO-02), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, led lawmakers in an oversight effort to address the federal government's failure to protect wildland firefighter health.

The lawmakers requested individual briefings from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to support the health and safety of wildland firefighters.

"Recent reporting suggests that federal agencies are neglecting their duty to protect the health of wildland firefighters. Making matters worse, agencies are already struggling to fill vacant wildland firefighter positions. Neglecting the health of current firefighters will make future recruitment harder and leave our communities vulnerable. We write to request a briefing on your efforts to meet the needs of the firefighters that serve us," the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers outlined eight critical questions to better understand what steps the agency is taking to safeguard firefighters on the front lines:

1. What steps is your agency taking to prevent wildfire smoke inhalation? 
2. What respiratory PPE is currently offered to wildland firefighters? What, if any, PPE is required and under what conditions is it offered or required? 
3. When will you require the distribution and use of respiratory protective equipment to wildland firefighters?  
4. How much would it cost to provide situationally appropriate respiratory protective equipment to all firefighting crews in your agency? 
5. What steps has your agency taken to improve tracking of the long-term health of federal wildland firefighters? How have recent staff and budget cuts affected those studies? 
6. How would consolidation of federal wildfire response under the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service impact the casualty assistance program?
7. How have recent agency personnel and budget cuts impacted the response rate for wildland firefighter workers compensation claims? 
8. How would consolidation of federal wildfire response under the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service impact current and future PPE guidance and policy? 

Congresswoman Dexter, the first and only lung physician ever elected to Congress, has made protecting lung health a central focus of her congressional work. Read the full letter here.

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