Role of Environmental Public Health Wildfires have long been thought of as being responded to by fire agencies; however, local envi - ronmental public health staff have a vital role in wildfire response. Partnership with Emergency Services Environmental public health responsibilities must be part of the response paradigm and also major roles in other components of the emergency management (EM) cycle. This cycle includes pre - paredness, response, recovery, and mitigation. It is important to recognize that for the most part, environmental public health will have limited duties and responsibilities in the fire zones while the wild - fire is active and engaged. 7 However, many activi - ties can be performed in locations outside the fire area such as messaging, air sampling, and response to wildfire smoke. Developing and Updating Protocols Environmental public health entities should create, review, or update emergency/disaster protocols. Larger environmental public health organizations may be better positioned to do this, but smaller or rural organizations are also impacted by larger-scale wildfires and will also need to update their protocols. The number of people impacted will vary, but the responsibility to protect, inform, advise, and educate is similar between large and small jurisdictions. Determining Agency Involvement Environmental public health professionals must decide what their involvement with the compo- nents of the EM cycle will look like. Specifically, how will staff prepare the agency and commu - nities for a major wildfire. A review of agency capacity, capabilities and the types of resources necessary in a fire disaster is crucial to preparing for wildfire response and recovery. For example, environmental public health organiza - tions must determine their involvement and duties
as it relates to water availability, safety, commu - niques, and directives. Will another agency be primary to the environmental public health respon - sibilities? How will directives be communicated and which agencies will play a role in its crafting? Who is the primary responsible party to investigate and mitigate water impacts? How does the environ - mental public health organization currently interact with agencies that have primary lead status? These questions and more should be analyzed and deter - Wildfire smoke is its own hazard with its own set of health impacts and interventions. It often has a wider geographic impact than wildfires since smoke travels and can affect areas not directly impacted by the fire. Wildfire smoke and ash has always been a concern, but additional effort is being placed in sampling for more harmful smaller size particu - lates (particulate matter 2.5). Environmental public health staff assist the public through air sampling, 8 messaging, and providing guidance (or delivery) of HEPA portable air cleaners or box fan filter kits which can be constructed easily at a lower cost. minations made before a wildfire occurs. Wildfire Smoke and Air Quality
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