The term “firefighter” and “cancer” have become so intertwined in the past decade that they are now nearly inseparable. Occupational exposure of firefighters to carcinogenic chemicals may increase their risk of developing different types of cancer. PFAS are one of the major classes of carcinogenic chemicals that firefighters are exposed to as occupational hazard. Elevated levels of PFAS have been observed in firefighters’ blood serum in recent studies. Possible sources of occupational exposure to PFAS include turnout gear, aqueous film-forming foam, and air and dust at both the fire scene and fire station. Preliminary discussion on PFAS includes definition, classification, and chemical structure. The review is then followed by identifying the sources of PFAS that firefighters may encounter as an occupational hazard. The structural properties of the PFAS used in identified sources, their degradation, and exposure pathways are reviewed. The elevated level of PFAS in the blood serum and how this might associate with an increased risk of cancer is discussed. Our review shows a significant amount of PFAS on turnout gear and their migration to untreated layers, and how turnout gear itself might be a potential source of PFAS exposure. PFAS from aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF), air, and dust of fire stations have been already established as potential exposure sources. Studies on firefighters’ cancer suggest that firefighters have a higher cancer risk compared to the general population. This review suggests that increased exposure to PFAS as an occupational hazard could be a potential cancer risk for firefighters.

This review provides a comparative analysis of the performance, toxicity, environmental impact, and health risks associated with fluorotelomer-based/short-chain AFFF and F3. Despite notable progress in F3 development, achieving comparable performance remains challenging in some cases. F3 formulations, while promising, are yet to be considered a direct replacement for AFFF in all Class B fire suppression scenarios due to variations in their performance across different fuel types and test conditions. Available studies indicate that commercially available F3 exhibit greater biodegradability and reduced environmental persistence compared to AFFF. However, some alternatives may still pose similar environmental impacts. Limited ecotoxicity studies suggest that some F3 may exhibit equal or even higher toxicity to aquatic species than short-chain (C6) AFFF. Toxicological assessments and risk evaluations of F3 should consider factors beyond environmental persistence, including acute and chronic ecotoxicity, potential endocrine disruption, and the full toxicological profile of foam formulations and their individual components. Further research is necessary to understand the fate, transport, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of F3 degradation products. Addressing these knowledge gaps is crucial to ensure the safe and sustainable implementation of F3 as an alternative fire suppression solution.

In 2017, more than 60,000 firefighters and oilfield-workers injuries and fatalities occurred while they were working under various thermal hazards such as flame, radiant heat, steam, etc., or due to their significant heat stress related discomfort. The majority of these burn injuries and fatalities results from an inadequate protection and comfort provided by firefighters’ and oilfield-workers’ fire protective polymeric textile materials used in their workwear. Hence, both the thermal protective and thermo-physiological comfort performance of fabrics used in workwear significantly contribute to limit firefighters’ and oilfield-workers’ skin burns and heat stress. Considering this, previous studies have focused on characterizing and developing empirical models to predict the protective and comfort performance based on physical properties of the fabrics. However, there are still some technical knowledge gaps in the existing literature related to this. This paper critically reviewed the literature on characterization and modeling of thermal protective and thermo-physiological comfort performance of fire protective textile fabric materials. The key issues in this field have been indicated in order to provide direction for the future research and advance this scientific field for better protection and comfort of the firefighters and oilfield-workers.

Most of the fatalities and injuries of oilfield workers result from inadequate protection and comfort by their clothing under various work hazards and ambient environments. Both the thermal protective performance and thermo-physiological comfort performance of textile fabrics used in clothing significantly contribute to the mitigation of workers’ skin burns and heat-stress-related deaths. This study aimed to apply the ANN modeling approach to analyze clothing performance considering the wearers’ sweat moisture and the microclimate air gap that is generated in between their body and clothing. Firstly, thermal protective and thermo-physiological comfort performance of fire protective textiles used in oilfield workers’ clothing were characterized. Different fabric properties (e.g., thickness, weight, fabric count), thermal protective performance, and thermo-physiological comfort performance were measured. The key fabric property that affects thermal protective and thermo-physiological performance was identified as thickness by statistical analysis. The ANN modeling approach could be successfully implemented to analyze the performance of fabrics in order to predict the performance more conveniently based on the fabric properties. It is expected that the developed models could inform on-duty oilfield workers about protective and thermo-physiological comfort performance and provide them with occupational health and safety.