Located in Bangor, Maine, adjacent to Bangor International Airport, the installation functions primarily as a support site rather than an active-duty combat base, providing space for equipment maintenance, MOS training, convoy preparation, vehicle inspections, communications exercises, and logistics operations. Many of its permanent buildings and maintenance facilities were constructed or expanded between the 1950s and 1980s, supporting administrative headquarters, vehicle maintenance shops, logistics warehouses, and motor pools used continuously by Maine Army National Guard soldiers.
Historical firefighter training with AFFF at Bangor Training Site, the adjacent Bangor Air National Guard Base, and Bangor International Airport stretches back more than 50 years. Military Preliminary Assessments and first-responder interviews outline several distinct ways fire crews used and encountered the foam:
- Firefighters conducted live-fire exercises in unlined or partially concrete-lined burn pits, pumping JP-4 jet fuel into the pits, igniting it to simulate a crash, and extinguishing the fire with 3M-manufactured Class B AFFF
- After live-fire drills, crews commonly left a thick layer of AFFF covering the entire training site to suppress fuel vapors and prevent the fire from reigniting
- Hangar fire-suppression systems were regularly tested, deploying large volumes of AFFF concentrate directly onto hangar floors to check that the systems worked
- Crash trucks and ARFF vehicles were routinely calibrated for proper foam-to-water ratios by spraying AFFF directly onto the ground or into unlined drainage ditches
This wasn't a single method of exposure but several overlapping ones, training pit burns, standing foam left behind after drills, hangar system checks, and routine vehicle calibration, all putting firefighters in direct, repeated contact with the foam over the course of their assignments.
Personnel most likely to have been exposed include Army Fire Protection Specialists, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting personnel, firefighter trainees, fire instructors, civilian firefighters assigned to the site, and personnel responsible for maintaining firefighting vehicles and foam storage systems.
Kidney cancer and testicular cancer have all been linked to PFAS chemicals found in AFFF among firefighters with this kind of sustained occupational exposure. If you trained in the burn pits, worked around hangar suppression testing, or calibrated ARFF vehicles at Bangor Training Site and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, our team can help you find out whether you're eligible to file.
Like many military installations built before the 1980s, Bangor Training Site likely incorporated asbestos-containing building materials for their fire resistance and insulating properties. Materials commonly used throughout its maintenance shops, warehouses, and utility buildings included:
Occupational exposure at Bangor Training Site would have primarily involved personnel responsible for maintaining older facilities, including:
Bangor Training Site contains numerous military support and maintenance facilities constructed during the decades when asbestos-containing products were standard in military buildings. Personnel responsible for maintaining boilers, mechanical equipment, and utility systems likely faced the greatest opportunity for exposure. A diagnosis of mesothelioma or lung cancer, the two conditions most strongly associated with asbestos exposure, often doesn't appear until 20 to 50 years after the original exposure, meaning a soldier who worked in Bangor Training Site's older buildings decades ago may only now be learning of the connection. If your service included maintenance work at Bangor Training Site and you've since received one of these diagnoses, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.