“What's more un-green than a fire?” Alliances between the public health, environmental, and firefighting communities

This paper describes a new blue-green alliance that has been influential in state-level campaigns for chemical regulatory reform in the United States in recent years: an alliance between firefighters and the environmental and public health communities. Based on multi-method qualitative research, the paper discusses the work done by environmental and health nonprofit organizations and activists to involve the firefighting community in state-level chemical regulation efforts. It also describes the actions to support these regulations taken by some – but not all – rank-and-file firefighters, local Union chapters, and state and national firefighting organizations. Data from in-depth interviews with firefighters and their leadership who have worked on these campaigns, and interviews with fire safety experts, reveals why some firefighters and fire safety organizations became active in campaigns against certain consumer-use flame retardant chemicals. The paper provides three analytical contributions: 1) the issue of chemical exposure is framed by activists as a health issue, and is compelling to firefighters for this same reason; 2) firefighters support the phase-out of certain chemicals when safer alternatives are identified; and 3) activists give significant credit to firefighters for the success of chemicals reform. These findings highlight the relevance of state-level activism and regulation of chemicals; the difficult risk tradeoffs involved in balancing fire safety with chemical exposure; and the need for chemical alternatives assessment to support chemical regulation. This paper also provides insight into the potential for future blue-green alliances between these groups and the green-building community in the general area of fire prevention.