News

Bulletin #7 from the Foam Exposure Committee: PFAS at additional sites

Derek Smith

25/01/2021

The US has 51,697 fire stations that could potentially be contaminated with fluorinated firefighting foams if training was ever conducted on site. Photo taken with permission of Fire Chief Brian Gaudet, Hillsboro Fire Protection District, Missouri. (Image copyright: Foam Exposure Committee)

Fluorinated firefighting foams known as Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) are being identified nationwide as a water contamination source issue. The Foam Exposure Committee (FEC) lists possible contaminated areas that have yet to be addressed on a national level:

27,184	US Fire Departments¹
51,697	US fire stations²
524	Airports required by the FAA to use AFFF³
5,080	Public airports⁴
14,556	Private airports⁵*
678	Military bases⁶

*Private airports: ‘Includes civil and joint-use civil-military airports, heliports, STOL (short take-off and landing) ports, and seaplane bases in the United States and its territories. Sole-use military airports are not included.’⁸

There are 1,216,600 fire personnel in the United States per the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Firefighters have been identified as having higher PFAS levels in their blood than the general population. Firefighting academies who may have used fluorinated firefighting foams in the past should be tested for PFAS.⁹

For more information, go to codepfas@gmail.com

References:

1. National Fire Department Registry, FEMA, Last updated Dec. 10, 2020, https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/registry/summary

2. ibid.

3. Aviation Pros, The Evolving Concern of PFAS at Airports, Lynleigh Love, Chris Crosley Dec 26, 2019, https://www.aviationpros.com/aoa/aircraft-rescue-firefighting-arff/article/21092898/the-evolving-concern-of-pfas-at airports

4. Number of public and private airports from 1990 to 2019 (2015 data unavailable), published by E. Mazareanu, June 26, 2020, https://www.statista.com/topics/3324/airports-in-the-united-states/

5. ibid.

6. Military Bases are Full of Cancer-Causing PFAS Chemicals, June 2, 2020, SOFREP, https://pfasproject.com/2020/06/01/military-bases-are-full-of-cancer-causing-pfas-chemicals/

7. National Fire Department Registry, FEMA, Last updated Dec. 10, 2020, https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/registry/summary

8. Number of public and private airports from 1990 to 2019 (2015 data unavailable), published by E. Mazareanu, June 26, 2020, https://www.statista.com/topics/3324/airports-in-the-united-states/

9. Firefighter Academies in The United States, accessed Dec 12, 2020, https://firefighternow.com/find-fire-academy/