Following a ProPublica article revealing that the U.S. Forest Service had for years distributed clothing to wildland firefighters that it knew contained potentially dangerous “forever chemicals,” the agency stopped distributing the clothing. It also says it will ask its equipment manufacturers to avoid using PFAS in the future.
This month, ProPublica reported that until at least 2023 one of the Forest Service’s suppliers, TenCate, used finishing products made with a PFAS compound on a Kevlar blend pant fabric. According to emails from the supplier, the finishes were used to repel gasoline and water. Although they were aware of the use of PFAS, Forest Service officials had not previously informed wildland firefighters.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have long been used in protective gear to repel substances like fuels. But many municipal fire departments have abandoned the chemicals as researchers reveal more about the health risks associated with them. Firefighters in several states have filed class-action lawsuits against manufacturers, alleging that PFAS caused them harm in the clothing they wore. Research specific to wildland firefighters has lagged, and wildfire agencies have been slower to publicly address the issue.
On Feb. 11, a day after ProPublica published its story, a Forest Service cache manager — an official who oversees an equipment depot — wrote in an email that he asked his colleagues to distribute widely: “I received notice from cache management staff in the Washington office late last night informing us that we must suspend the issuance” of the pants. But the agency did not immediately elaborate further. A wildland firefighter who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his job said last week that incident management teams had sought advice from the agency about the pants. “For the moment, our logisticians have not received any guidance from their superiors,” said the firefighter.
The Forest Service released a statement to ProPublica on Friday: “PFAS in protective gear is a complex, industry-wide issue and any suggestion that the agency sought to obscure information does not reflect the extensive work to expand testing and improve long-term occupational health protections for firefighters. Firefighter pants made with PFAS water-repellent fabric treatments have been removed from the stock available at National Interagency Support caches. “
TenCate did not respond to repeated requests, but in an email reviewed by ProPublica, it told the Forest Service that a PFAS-free finish was available in January 2023. As of Friday, the Forest Service sent an email to its staff saying its supplier had switched to a PFAS-free finish that year. In the same email, the Forest Service wrote that anyone with older pants “should stop using them and replace them.” The agency also said it was updating its requirements “to clarify that fabric treatments and fabrics will not contain PFAS.”
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Fire departments generally adhere to safety standards established by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit organization that gathers input from expert committees that include firefighters and representatives of the companies that supply them with equipment. Although the association is not a certification body, its standards are used by government agencies, including the Forest Service. Last year, an NFPA technical committee updated its standards for municipal firefighters to limit levels of certain PFAS chemicals in protective gear. But the organization has not yet carried out a parallel update of its standards for wildland firefighters.
NFPA committee member Rick Swan said the delay reflects a long and deliberate process of developing standards, but he added that a restriction on PFAS chemicals in hunting gear is virtually inevitable. “I think it’s a no-brainer,” Swan said. In an email, an NFPA spokesperson wrote that the committee overseeing the wildfire standard “will likely review this issue again.”
Experts can’t say for sure what risks PFAS in equipment pose to wildland firefighters’ health and agree that more research is needed. Jeff Burgess, a professor and researcher at the University of Arizona who is leading a series of long-term studies on firefighter health, said smoke inhalation and soot buildup on equipment are the primary ways wildland firefighters encounter carcinogens. Understanding of wildland firefighters’ exposure to PFAS lags behind understanding of exposure in municipal fire departments. Historically, researchers have had less access to forest research teams, and in recent years they have focused on studying smoke risks.
