Incentives and barriers to adopting PFAS-free firefighter foams in fire training facilities
University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Principal Investigator - Anila Bello
RELEVANCE
Firefighters are at an increased risk of developing multiple cancers, liver damage, immune suppression, and endocrine disruption effects from PFAS exposures. AFFF represents one of several sources of firefighters’ exposure to PFAS. Fire training facilities are important users of AFFF, and firefighter instructors are a high-risk PFAS exposure group. Elimination of PFAS exposures at the source through product substitution with safer alternatives is the most effective exposure and disease prevention strategy. There are over 100 foam alternatives to AFFF in the US market. Independent assessments of chemical composition, exposure, and safety data are lacking for most alternative products. There is a need to develop guidance to firefighters on alternative foam selection and use, and independently assess their composition and impact on human health. Thermal degradation and physico-chemical transformations of foams during active fires can form highly toxic by-products and nano aerosols that should be considered when assessing new foam alternatives, as well as in studies of firefighter PFAS exposure sources.
METHODS
To achieve the study aims we will conduct a national survey of fire training facilities to collect information on current uses of AFFF alternatives, identify best practices and effective solutions to FP&S R&D Project Abstracts overcome barriers to adopting FFF products. Simultaneously, we will build a testing platform to characterize thermal degradation products of representative FFF and compare them with conventional and short-chain AFFF under controlled conditions. We will measure multiple complementary exposure metrics, including total organic fluorine (TOF), total extractable organic fluorine, inorganic fluorine, individual PFAS species, hydrogen fluoride gas, free radicals, nano aerosols, and size fractioned species distribution in aerosols. We will also evaluate portable Raman spectroscopy as a suitable field-testing technique for semi-quantitative screening of foam products, dust, and other materials for PFAS contamination.
ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
The project will enable the identification of new opportunities to overcome barriers to full-scale implementation of PFAS-free firefighter foams, and guide the development of best occupational hygiene practices to reduce ongoing PFAS exposures in fire training facilities. Furthermore, the development of comprehensive testing platforms to study thermal degradation products will lead to improved strategies for toxicity testing of foam alternatives, and field sampling of firefighter PFAS exposures for investigations of exposure-disease relationship.