Originally established as Camp Benning in 1918 and designated Fort Benning in 1922, the installation has long served as one of the U.S. Army's premier training centers. Known as the Home of the Infantry, Fort Benning is home to the Maneuver Center of Excellence, where Infantry, Armor, Airborne, Ranger, and Officer Candidate training take place. Over more than a century of operation, the post has grown to more than 182,000 acres with thousands of buildings, training facilities, maintenance shops, airfields, and fire stations, and both occupational asbestos exposure and firefighter AFFF exposure remain relevant here.
Fort Benning has maintained a large Army Fire Department for decades, operating multiple fire stations and a dedicated Fire Department Training Division to protect personnel, aircraft, and military infrastructure. Historically, its firefighters trained with AFFF because it was the military standard for extinguishing petroleum-based and aviation fuel fires. Training exercises included live-fire drills, aircraft rescue training, fuel fire simulations, emergency response exercises, foam application training, and fire suppression equipment training. During much of this period, legacy AFFF formulations contained PFOS and PFOA, standard ingredients in military firefighting foam at the time.
Army records documenting Fort Benning's historical fire training areas confirm that AFFF was used at former fire training facilities on the installation before those sites were closed or modernized. Firefighters were exposed while mixing foam concentrate, operating hoses during live-fire exercises, extinguishing simulated fuel fires, testing proportioning systems, cleaning firefighting vehicles and equipment, servicing foam storage systems, and repeating emergency response drills throughout their careers.
Roles at Fort Benning with the greatest likelihood of AFFF exposure include:
- Army Fire Protection Specialist
- Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting technician
- fire instructor
- firefighter trainee
- civilian firefighter assigned to the installation
- personnel who maintained firefighting equipment and foam systems
Studies have connected PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF to kidney cancer and testicular cancer among firefighters with repeated occupational exposure. If you trained or served as a firefighter at Fort Benning and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, you may be entitled to compensation.
Like many Army installations built during the early and mid-20th century, Fort Benning made extensive use of asbestos for its fire resistance, insulation, and durability. Documented exposure at the base spans barracks and training buildings from the World War II era, steam heating systems and boiler plants, and vehicle and armor maintenance facilities. In one notable example, the Army spent more than $4 million on an asbestos abatement project at Building No. 4 of the Maneuver Center of Excellence, involving the demolition of over 539,000 square feet of interior floor space. Materials commonly found in Fort Benning's older buildings included:
- pipe insulation
- boiler insulation
- steam distribution system insulation
- roofing materials
- vinyl floor tile
- ceiling tile
- fire-resistant wallboard
- mechanical equipment insulation
- gasket and packing material
Certain occupations carried significantly higher exposure risk due to direct contact with insulation, gaskets, pipe systems, and other asbestos-containing materials:
- combat engineer
- pipefitter
- boiler technician
- HVAC mechanic
- welder
- vehicle and armor maintenance technician
- building maintenance worker
- civilian contractor
Mesothelioma and lung cancer are the two diseases most closely tied to this kind of exposure, with mesothelioma developing in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, heart, or testes, and lung cancer forming directly in lung tissue. Both often carry a latency period of 20 to 50 years, which is why many veterans who served at Fort Benning decades ago are only now receiving a diagnosis. If asbestos exposure at Fort Benning led to your lung cancer or mesothelioma diagnosis, our team can help you pursue the compensation you're owed.