For decades, firefighters in Russell County, Alabama, responded to emergencies where putting out hazardous fuel fires was a higher priority than documenting every product used during an incident. Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) became a standard tool for combating flammable-liquid fires long before concerns emerged about the toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contained in many formulations. Today, the absence of detailed exposure records has become a challenge for some current and retired firefighters seeking to reconstruct their occupational histories.
Russell County’s 20 fire departments have served communities where emergency response has long been essential, including residential areas, transportation corridors, and commercial and industrial sites where flammable-liquid fires can occur. The county’s fire departments are part of a nationwide firefighting community of 27,117 fire departments, many of which historically relied on AFFF long before the health and environmental concerns associated with PFAS became widely understood. Many firefighters trained with or deployed AFFF without expecting they would later need to document their exposure.
A History that Was Rarely Recorded…