@misc{10498/26713,
year = {2022},
month = {3},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26713},
abstract = {There is high concern about the exposure of firefighters to toxic products or carcinogens
resulting from combustion during fire interventions. Firefighter turnout gear is designed to protect
against immediate fire hazards but not against chemical agents. Additionally, the decontamination of
firefighter personal protective equipment remains unresolved. This study evaluated the feasibility of
a screening method based on headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GCIMS)
in combination with chemometrics (cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and linear
discriminant analysis) for the assessment of the transference of volatile compounds through turnout
gear. To achieve this, firefighter turnout gears exposed to two different fire scenes (with different
combustion materials) were directly analyzed. We obtained a spectral fingerprint for turnout gears
that were both exposed and non-exposed to fire scenes. The results showed that (i): the contamination
of the turnout gears is different depending on the type of fire loading; and (ii) it is possible to
determine if the turnout gear is free of volatile compounds. Based on the latest results, we concluded
that HS-GC-IMS can be applied as a screening technique to assess the quality of turnout gear prior to
a new fire intervention.},
organization = {This research was funded by the Region of Madrid Fire Department, grant number "83 LOU, 148/2018". This work was also co-financed by the 2014-2020 ERDF Operational Program; the Department of Economy, Knowledge, Business, and University of the Regional Government of Andalusia (FEDER-UCA18-107214); and 0756_FIREPOCTEP_6_E "Strengthening of cross-border systems for the prevention and extinction of forest fires and improvement of resources for the generation of rural employment post-COVID-19" (2021-020/PE/Interreg POCTEP 2014-2020/PR).},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {volatile organic compounds (VOCs)},
keywords = {fire},
keywords = {occupational risk},
keywords = {toxicity},
keywords = {turnout gear},
keywords = {firefighter},
keywords = {ion mobility spectrometry},
keywords = {chemometrics},
keywords = {combustion products},
title = {Assessment of Volatile Compound Transference through Firefighter Turnout Gear},
doi = {10.3390/ijerph19063663},
author = {Aliaño González, María José and Montalvo, Gemma and García-Ruiz, Carmen and Ferreiro González, Marta and Palma Lovillo, Miguel},
}