Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Research on health impacts of wildfires has focused primarily on acute respiratory conditions, with inconsistent results for cardiovascular outcomes and limited studies of: immune or other acute responses, inflammatory arthritis, neurologic effects, perinatal health, longer term sequelae, or mental trauma. The American Thoracic Society recommends: “Research…to understand long-term health effects of repeated smoke exposures across fire seasons”, and a recent National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Report highlighted persistence of impairments and multiple fire exposures as key research areas. In light of the reccognized need for more extensive, deeper research in this area, the University of California Davis Health (UCDH) is establishing a new Institute on Wildfires, Health, Equity, and Resilience to address health impacts from wildfires with a comprehensive and impactful program. The team already has launched longitudinal studies, collected biologic specimens, and begun examining respiratory and mental health outcomes in wildfire survivors. This Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) will enable construction of a unique burn facility for testing various fuel types to determine smoke composition and understand differences between wildland fires and those in the wildland-urban-interface. This new Facility for Investigating Real-Time Exposure to Combustion Emissions (FIRESCE) will be leveraged for experimental studies in animals that will have direct relevance to people, because the smoke emitted will mimic the smoke Californians breathe during fire seasons. CDS funds will also provide mobile wildfire health clinics that will: reach underserved and rural communities, offer physical examinations and screening tests, and collect data and specimens for further research. The UCDH team has already piloted these clinics, where persons exposed to wildfires and experiencing ailments potentially triggered or exacerbated by smoke exposures are seen. Besides providing a service to affected communities, the high quality diagnostic data and biospecimens will be used for deeper research into health impacts of wildfires. Additional equipment will be acquired to analyze air samples and human biospecimens (blood, breath condensate, nasal swabs, and others), to begin filling the large knowledge gaps regarding the health impacts of wildfires. The CDS funding will help propel this nascent field forward through key infrastructure that accelerates ramping up for this institute, advances pioneering science, and bolsters capacity to raise additional extramural financial support. The resulting research can then address the full scope of health impacts from wildfires, who is most vulnerable and what medical/public health programs can protect Californians–and others throughout the western USA. The overall scope includes three specific projects. Project 1: the design of the FIRESCU facility will be finalized, permits will be obtained, raw materials purchased, and the construction will take place. Initial experimental studies will begin, funded from other sources. Project 2: The mobile clinic will be designed in close consultation with the manufacturers to be customized to the needs of the physicians, clinical staff, and patient population to be served. Specifications will be reviewed extensively, finalized, and approved by the appropriate agencies before production begins. The mobile clinic will be completed and ready for use within the timeframe of funding. Project 3: Laboratory equipment will be purchased and calibrated for analysis of both environmental and biological specimens to identify ambient exposures during wildfires, as well as wildfire-related chemicals circulating in the bloodstream, inflammatory markers, both genetic profiles and epigenetic changes, e.g., DNA-methylation, and potential microbial populations in nasal passages. The UCDH team is ready to initiate this public health project upon receipt of CDS funding.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).