At the height of wildfire season, thousands of firefighters regularly face a host of dangers on the front lines.

That includes confronting toxic smoke, sometimes with little to no protection.

And a new report says the effects can be dire.

Stephanie Sy has our look.

For years, the Forest Service has fought against efforts to better protect

firefighters from toxic smoke, resisting recommendations to provide masks. That's according to

a new investigation from the New York Times. As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense,

the health of wildland firefighters is under renewed focus.

Hannah Dreyer reported this story for the New York Times and joins me now.

Hannah, thank you so much for joining the news hour.

So I understand you spoke to more than 250 firefighters for this report.

You were on the fire lines.

And many of these firefighters, you highlighted in the piece,

had major health issues.

So tell us what kinds of patterns and similarities

did you see among their illnesses

and their links to wildfire smoke?

So I was shocked to find out that tens of thousands

of wild firefighters go out for weeks and months

at a time in toxic smoke with no protection,

no masks. And like you say, what I found is that many of them are getting very sick.

So I'm talking about otherwise healthy people who are developing rare cancers in their 20s.

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