As my colleague said about exposures to carcinogens, we were in the middle of hundreds and hundreds of homes at any one time that were burning all around us. Unfortunately, we didn't have the luxury of having our personal protective equipment on. Our breathing apparatus was not available, and, quite frankly, it wouldn't have been appropriate for what we were doing at the time.
Throughout the first week of the fire, we didn't have PPE. We didn't have an opportunity to shower, and we didn't have opportunities to clean ourselves to get contaminants off our bodies. They were in our fire trucks, they were in our homes and they were where we were sleeping. Unfortunately, we were sleeping on lawns and in different spots here and there. We couldn't get out of that toxic soup.
You talk about lifetime exposure, I suggest that it probably was. Dr. Nicola Cherry at the University of Alberta has done a study with respect to the respiratory effects of the fire, and they're starting to come up now. We're seeing our members deal with respiratory issues and the like, so I believe that, yes, there was certainly a lifetime of exposure to carcinogens and other issues.