resumo
- This work assessed firefighters’ exposure to gases pollutants in non- fire work settings during the pre-fire season as a baseline for the respective occupational exposure characterization. Indoor air sampling (total volatile organic compounds—TVOCs, ozone-O3, and carbon di oxide-CO2) was conducted for two weeks in the pre-fire season of 2021 in seven firehouses (FH1–FH7) situated in the north-interior of Portugal. The result showed that across all FH, TVOCs highly varied with observed levels of 180 μg m−3 and 11.5 mg m–3 (overall median of 1.86 mg m–3). Furthermore, at all FH, the observed levels highly exceeded (1.5–6.6 times) the Portuguese protective thresholds of 600 μg m–3 for indoor air quality in public buildings. On the contrary, the indoor ozone concentrations (range: 23–80 μg m–3; median 60 μg m–3) and CO2 (range 800–1160 mg m-3: median 924 mg m–3) were relatively low and in accordance with existing national standards. While the associations between the pollutants were low—moderate (|rs|= 0.030–0.679) to better identify the respective indoor emission sources, quantification of specific VOC compounds/classes is required in future studies.