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Identifying Exposure Biomarkers of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires (WUI) Among Firefighters

Award Number: R21ES038681
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/25/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/24/2028

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Identifying Exposure Biomarkers of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires (WUI) Among Firefighters - ABSTRACT Increased frequency and intensity of wildland and wildland-urban-interface (WUI) fires pose significant health threats to affected people including firefighters. In the US, nearly all major WUI fires resulted from the rapid spread of wildland fires into WUI areas driven by strong winds. Compared with wildland fires, WUI fires are more heterogeneous and involves the combustion of vegetation biomass, structures, and other human-made materials rich in halogenated compounds, plastics, and metals. Yet there is a lack of exposure assessment method capable of distinguishing exposure to WUI fires from wildland fires and other combustion sources (e.g., traffic exhaust) at WUI, which limit our ability to identify the adverse health effects of WUI fires. Built upon our previous work on urinary metabolites of methylated and nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as source- specific exposure biomarkers of wood smoke and diesel exhaust, this R21 project aims to identify novel exposure biomarkers sensitive and specific to WUI fires. We hypothesize that exposure to WUI fires increases urinary metabolites of chlorinated-PAHs in addition to increasing metabolites of methylated-PAHs and nitrated-PAHs following exposure to wildland fires. We will leverage an existing cohort of firefighters (the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study) who respond to wildland and WUI fires. Each firefighter wore a wristband during the work shift and provided urine samples at baseline and at the end of the shift. We will leverage these samples and data and conduct additional analyses to address the following two specific aims. Aim 1: to determine to what extent WUI firefighting increases urinary PAH metabolites. We will measure metabolites of chlorinated-, methylated-, and nitrated-PAHs in urine samples collected from 100 firefighters before and after working a shift responding to a WUI fire. We will also measure methylated-, nitrated-, and chlorinated-PAHs in wristband samples. We will examine the difference in urinary PAH metabolites before and after WUI firefighting, as well as the correlations between urinary metabolites and their precursors in wristbands. Aim 2: to assess the sensitivity and specificity of urinary PAH metabolites in differentiating WUI fires and wildland fires. We will measure PAHs metabolites in 100 urine samples collected after responding to a wildland fire and 100 urine samples collected after responding to a WUI fire. We will assess the sensitivity, specificity, and areas under the curve of individual biomarkers to distinguish wildland and WUI fires and explore the combined use of all exposure biomarkers to classify personal exposure to combustion sources using dimensionality reduction methods. Completing the project will identify novel biomarkers and methods to apportion personal exposure to WUI fires and other combustion sources, which can be applied in larger studies to understand the health effects of WUI fires among firefighters and the general population.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $470,000 )
2026	2026	DUKE UNIVERSITY	2200 W MAIN ST	DURHAM	NC	27705	DURHAM	USA	Environmental Health	000	1	9/17/2026	NEW	$470,000
														Subtotal = $470,000

Grand Total All Awards = $470,000

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Identifying Exposure Biomarkers of Wildland-Urban Interface Fires (WUI) Among Firefighters

Award Number: R21ES038681

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/25/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 09/24/2028

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