Biomonitoring of Minnesota Firefighters Exposed to a Prolonged Metal Recycling Yard Fire

A metal recycling facility scrapyard fire that burned for five days continuously in February 2020 in Becker, Minnesota resulted in the mobilization of mutual-aid firefighters from around Minnesota to assist. Combusted material included cars, refrigerators, metals, glass, foam, and insulation. Urine, blood, and serum specimen collection began one day later and continued for 19 days. The parameters collected included CBC with differential, BMP, blood heavy metals, urine heavy metals, and serum heavy metals. This massive and prolonged industrial fire offered an opportunity for the acute biomonitoring of hazardous and unique exposures, in concordance with concerns raised by the employees at risk. Analysis of these results did not find evidence of acute concern about the biomonitoring results. However, this study shows a means of objective toxin exposure description in a sample population. While causal relationships were not determined, biological samples were characterized in a comprehensive way.