Originally established in 1942 as the Navajo Ordnance Depot, Camp Navajo sits near Bellemont, Arizona, about 20 miles west of Flagstaff. During World War II, the installation served as a major ammunition storage and ordnance depot, and today it's operated by the Arizona Army National Guard, continuing to support military training, mobilization, ammunition storage, and emergency response. Hundreds of World War II-era storage igloos, maintenance facilities, and support buildings, along with an on-site fire department, have made both asbestos and AFFF exposure relevant concerns for those who served or worked there.
Camp Navajo has maintained a dedicated fire department since the installation opened as the Navajo Ordnance Depot in 1942. According to the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, this department grew from a small military firefighting unit into a modern fire service with expanded training, emergency medical response, and specialized suppression capabilities. Like other military fire departments, Camp Navajo firefighters historically trained with AFFF because it was the standard for suppressing petroleum-based fuel fires, in exercises that included live-fire drills, fuel fire simulations, foam application drills, fire suppression equipment training, emergency response exercises, and hazardous materials response training.
Beginning in the 1970s, legacy AFFF formulations containing PFOS and PFOA became the standard firefighting foam used across the military for Class B fuel fires. Firefighters were exposed while mixing foam concentrate, operating hoses during live-fire drills, extinguishing simulated fuel fires, testing proportioning systems, cleaning firefighting vehicles and equipment, servicing foam storage and delivery systems, and taking part in repeated certification exercises, often resulting in direct skin contact and inhalation of aerosolized foam.
Roles at Camp Navajo with the greatest likelihood of AFFF exposure include:
- Army Fire Protection Specialist
- Arizona Army National Guard firefighter
- fire instructor
- firefighter trainee
- civilian firefighter assigned to Camp Navajo
- personnel who maintained firefighting vehicles and foam systems
Research has linked PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF to kidney cancer and testicular cancer among firefighters with this kind of repeated exposure. If you trained or served as a firefighter at Camp Navajo and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, you may be entitled to compensation.
Camp Navajo was constructed during World War II, when asbestos-containing materials were standard in military facilities for their fire resistance, insulating properties, and durability. The base, listed under its former name as the Navajo Army Depot in Bellemont, appears on documented records of Arizona asbestos exposure sites, and it's also identified among Army installations with a significant history of asbestos use in buildings, equipment, and barracks. Materials commonly found in the installation's ammunition storage igloos and support buildings included:
- boiler lagging
- transite panels
- floor tile adhesive
- acoustic ceiling texture
- window glazing compound
- furnace cement
- electrical panel backing
- valve packing
- joint compound
Occupations most likely to have disturbed these materials while maintaining or renovating older igloos and buildings included:
- ordnance handler
- warehouse and storage crew
- steamfitter
- power plant mechanic
- insulation installer
- roofer
- drywall and flooring crew
- National Guard maintenance technician
Mesothelioma and lung cancer are the two conditions most closely tied to this kind of exposure. Mesothelioma affects the lining around the lungs, abdomen, heart, or testes, while lung cancer develops in the lung tissue itself, and both can take 20 to 50 years to surface after asbestos fibers are inhaled. Because of that delay, many who worked at Camp Navajo decades ago are only now facing a diagnosis connected to their time there. If asbestos exposure at Camp Navajo led to your lung cancer or mesothelioma diagnosis, our team can help you with the legal process of filing an asbestos claim.