George AFB opened in 1941 as Victorville Army Air Field near Victorville in San Bernardino County, California, and was renamed in 1950 to honor Brigadier General Harold Huston George, a pioneer in military aviation. Across World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, it became one of the Air Force's premier tactical fighter training bases before closing under the 1992 Base Realignment and Closure program; the site is now part of the Southern California Logistics Airport. Decades of continuous fighter operations left the base with maintenance hangars, engine repair shops, fuel storage facilities, and hundreds of support buildings, most constructed between the 1940s and 1970s.
As a major Tactical Air Command fighter installation, George AFB kept its Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting program running continuously to protect its fighter fleet, maintenance shops, and fuel storage areas. Air Force environmental restoration records document four separate Fire Training Areas on base, FT-01 through FT-04, each used for recurring firefighter instruction over the course of the installation's history.
Ask what a firefighter's training day actually looked like at one of these sites, and the pattern repeats: concentrate gets mixed and loaded, a hose team knocks down a live fuel fire, the crew scrubs down gear and trucks once it's over, someone services the foam tanks for the next group, and everyone comes back for certification again on a recurring schedule. It wasn't a single exposure, it was a career-length pattern across FT-01 through FT-04.
The people caught up in that pattern included Air Force Fire Protection Specialists, ARFF crew members, fire instructors running the drills, trainees working toward certification, civilian firefighters on staff, and the maintenance personnel keeping trucks and foam systems functional.
PFAS chemicals present in legacy AFFF have been tied to kidney cancer and testicular cancer in firefighters exposed this way over time. If that describes your service at George AFB and you were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, that history deserves a closer look.
George AFB's rapid wartime buildout and continued Cold War expansion happened squarely in the decades when asbestos was standard for heat resistance and insulation in military construction. More than 50 years of continuous operation meant boilers, steam lines, heating systems, and aircraft support buildings needed constant upkeep, work that put maintenance crews in direct contact with the material long after its dangers were known. Common materials from this period included:
- pipe insulation
- boiler insulation
- steam distribution systems
- HVAC insulation
- fireproof wallboard
- roofing materials
- mastic
- ceiling tile
- gasket
- packing material
Trades with the greatest exposure risk while maintaining or renovating these older buildings included:
- civil engineer
- aircraft maintenance technician
- electrician
- plumber
- HVAC mechanic
- boiler technician
- welder
- construction worker
- civilian maintenance employee
Once George AFB closed, asbestos abatement became a routine part of the redevelopment and demolition work needed to repurpose the site. Mesothelioma and lung cancer remain the two conditions most closely tied to this kind of exposure, both known for staying hidden anywhere from 20 to 50 years before symptoms show up. If you did maintenance work at George AFB and have since received either diagnosis, reach out to our team to see if you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.