"The firefighter health program was researching firefighters’ chemical exposures in electric vehicle fires — a first step to developing protective equipment."
"Tim Ferretti was looking forward to burning two Tesla Model 3s.
The vehicle demolition and salvage safety consultant bought the cars to train firefighters on how to respond to electric vehicle fires. But now the training will miss a key participant: a researcher from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who collects air and soil samples as part of an effort to protect firefighters from dangerous chemicals.
The researcher was among 800 worker safety experts recently fired by the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC’s firefighter health program no longer exists — another casualty of the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce.
“I’m up in arms and angry about it,” Ferretti told POLITICO’s E&E News. “It is a dirty, nasty business in emergency response and demolition, and we need all the help we can get.”
Eliminating the firefighter health program was part of a massive restructuring at HHS, in which Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put 10,000 workers on administrative leave, with plans to lay them off in June. Another 10,000 employees took early retirement and voluntary separation offers, while more than 5,000 probationary employees were fired in February."
Ariel Wittenberg reports for E&E News April 18, 2025.
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