For decades, firefighters facing some of the state’s most destructive wildfires worked without proper masks or respirators , despite evidence showing long-term health risks from wildfire smoke .

That’s why a bipartisan group of senators, including California Democrat Adam Schiff and Utah Republican John Curtis, introduced the first-ever respiratory protection standards for wildland firefighters on Monday.

If Congress passes the bipartisan bill, it would ensure the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior “take long overdue steps to protect the health of these heroes,” the bill’s authors said in a press release. This legislation was co-sponsored by Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Tim Sheehy (R-Montana).

“Wildland firefighters deploy in the most extreme condit

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