Located about 16 miles west of Grand Forks, North Dakota, construction began in 1956 and the base officially opened the following year. During the Cold War it served as a Strategic Air Command installation supporting B-52 Stratofortress bombers and KC-135 Stratotankers, and by the 1960s and 1970s it also hosted the 321st Strategic Missile Wing, operating Minuteman II ICBMs across eastern North Dakota. Following the retirement of its bomber mission, the base shifted to air refueling and later became a center for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, and today it's home to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing and the RQ-4 Global Hawk mission, supported by aircraft hangars, missile support facilities, and boiler plants built largely between the 1950s and 1970s.
AFFF exposure at Grand Forks Air Force Base
As an active aviation installation supporting bomber, tanker, and reconnaissance aircraft, Grand Forks Air Force Base maintained dedicated Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting capabilities. Air Force environmental restoration records identify a Fire Training Area where firefighters historically conducted live-fire exercises using aviation fuels to simulate aircraft crash emergencies, and later environmental investigations confirmed AFFF had historically been used at this same site during firefighter training.
Training at this facility followed a routine familiar to firefighters at bases like it: fuel was ignited to simulate an emergency, AFFF was applied to control the fire, proportioning systems were tested to confirm the mix, and vehicles and equipment were cleaned and foam supplies restocked once the exercise ended.
Air Force Fire Protection Specialists and Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting personnel carried the bulk of this exposure, joined by fire instructors, firefighter trainees, fire apparatus operators, and the staff who maintained foam systems and firefighting vehicles.
Studies on PFAS-exposed firefighters consistently point to two cancers that occur at elevated rates compared to the general population. Firefighters who regularly trained with AFFF at Grand Forks Air Force Base fall squarely within the group these studies have tracked:
If your firefighter service there included this kind of training and you've since received one of these diagnoses, our team can review your history and let you know whether you're eligible to file an AFFF claim.
Asbestos exposure at Grand Forks Air Force Base
Grand Forks Air Force Base went up during the exact stretch of the Cold War when asbestos was the industry standard for anything requiring fire resistance or insulation, and its hangars, missile support facilities, and boiler plants were built accordingly. Materials commonly found throughout these buildings included:
The trades responsible for keeping these buildings and systems running faced the greatest opportunity for direct contact with these materials:
Grand Forks Air Force Base contains numerous buildings dating from the 1950s through the Cold War, when asbestos was standard throughout military construction, and personnel responsible for maintaining these facilities faced this risk across the base's entire operational history. Mesothelioma and lung cancer, the two conditions most closely tied to this kind of work, often don't surface for 20 to 50 years after the original exposure, meaning a veteran who worked at Grand Forks Air Force Base decades ago might only be seeing symptoms now. If your service included that kind of maintenance work and you've since received either diagnosis, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.