By Treven Pyles on February 06th, 2026 in PFAS/AFFF
Some firefighters are full-time employees of industrial plants, while others are responding to big emergencies through mutual aid requests. Whether they are internal employees or contracted workers, responding to liquid fires with AFFF carries serious consequences to a firefighter’s health.
When a massive chemical fire breaks out at a petrochemical or mining facility, responders could be either on-site personnel who have been stationed full-time or firefighters responding through a mutual aid agreement or service contracts. While each type of firefighter may have different patterns of exposure, both groups are at high risk of exposure to toxic fluorine-based chemicals that have been strongly linked to the development of cancer.
Industrial companies hire their own firefighters, trained specifically for the hazards of their facilities. These teams are often full-time or part-time employees who handle all on-site emergencies, including fires, chemical spills, and explosions. For example, a refinery in El Segundo, California, employs an on-site industrial fire department with four rotating crews. Team members of the department are specifically trained for potential emergency situations in the refinery, with required training on first aid, storage tank emergency response, and strategies for flammable liquids and gas (LPG) fires. For on-site firefighters, exposure is often chronic and cumulative over the years. Their daily duties may include cleaning up AFFF spills, setting up Class B fire simulations, and mixing foam concentrate. If you are an industrial firefighter employed in the industry, you may have grounds to file an AFFF claim if you develop a linkable cancer, thyroid disease, or ulcerative colitis. To prove this, you may use your employment records as proof of exposure, including the following:
Mutual aid agreements are made between two jurisdictions and organizations to share resources (personnel, teams, equipment, and supplies) in case of an extreme or demanding incident that one facility cannot handle alone. These mutual aid agreements are often between neighboring mining companies, fire departments, or oil and gas companies. Mutual aid respondents are often called to respond to massive fires and hazardous explosions.
Their exposure to AFFF may be brief, but their work requires exposure to gallons and gallons of foam mixture during an intense situation. Once they arrive at the site, they may also encounter AFFF from other mutual aid responders who are still using legacy AFFF stocks or using contaminated equipment. It’s important to take note of all types and brands of AFFF used on-site during the emergency you responded to, even if your department did not bring the firefighting foam on-site.
To file a claim, your proof of exposure may come from employment records, including the following:
Whether you served as a full-time respondent for a high-risk facility or occasionally responded to industrial fires as part of a mutual aid agreement, ELG law can help you file an AFFF claim. Our attorneys only need to check your proof of AFFF exposure (employment records) and proof of diagnosis of a linkable condition (medical records of cancer diagnosis) to check your eligibility. If you qualify for a claim, our AFFF attorneys can handle the filing on your behalf.