Occupational Conditions and Sleep Duration, Continuity, and Quality among First Responders: Evidence from the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires
Sunny Liu, Chunqing Lin, Xia Yang, Jian LiObjective:
To examine occupational conditions and sleep during wildfire response.
Methods:
We surveyed 90 first responders during the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and modeled sleep duration, continuity, and quality against shift characteristics, workload, hazard proximity, and working conditions.
Results:
After adjustment for age and experience, 24-hour shifts were associated with 1.65 fewer total sleep hours (95% CI: −2.45, −0.84) and 1.93 fewer consecutive hours (−2.99, −0.87). Four or more consecutive shifts were also associated with shorter sleep, and poorer working conditions with shorter total sleep; hazard proximity and total shifts were not. Poor or very poor sleep quality (83%) was associated with all exposures except total shifts and shift extension.
Conclusion:
Long and consecutive shifts were associated with shorter, more fragmented sleep. Exposures were closely tied to occupational role.