Firefighters who battled the deadly Lahaina wildfires on August 8 have earned immense gratitude for their efforts to fend off the historic inferno fed by hurricane force winds and large swaths of fire prone bone-dry brush.
Chris Frueh, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo provides insight into short- and long-term medical, psychological and social risks firefighters can sustain in their line of work. According to Frueh and researchers Isabella Zingray, a UH Hilo alumna and Gina Rudine, a graduate student in UH Hilo’s counseling psychology program, because firefighting involves regular exposure to chronic stress, lethal risks and potential for a wide range of injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and toxic exposures, the accumulation can lead to profound physiological changes.