Located in Marquette County, Michigan, about 20 miles south of Marquette, the installation was established in 1955 and named for Kenneth Ingalls Sawyer, a World War II pilot from Michigan. Its long runway and strategic northern location made it an important Strategic Air Command base hosting the B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker, requiring extensive aircraft maintenance and fuel handling capability until the base closed in 1995 under the Base Realignment and Closure program. That mission required aircraft hangars, strategic bomber alert facilities, fuel storage systems, and steam and utility plants, much of it built between the 1950s and 1970s.
AFFF exposure at KI Sawyer Air Force Base
As a Strategic Air Command installation supporting bomber and tanker aircraft, KI Sawyer Air Force Base maintained an active fire protection program built to respond to aviation fuel fires and aircraft emergencies. Environmental restoration records identify a historic Fire Training Area where firefighters conducted live-fire exercises simulating aircraft crash and fuel-fire incidents, using AFFF to extinguish flammable liquid fires and prepare for real-world emergencies.
Training at this site included:
- aircraft crash rescue exercises
- aviation fuel fire suppression
- live-fire firefighter certification
- foam application drills
- emergency response exercises
- fire suppression equipment testing
Firefighters handled AFFF directly through:
- conducting aircraft crash rescue training
- extinguishing aviation fuel fires
- mixing foam concentrate before drills
- testing foam proportioning systems
- cleaning firefighting vehicles and equipment
- maintaining foam storage systems
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 personnel responsible for maintaining foam systems and firefighting vehicles.
Kidney and testicular cancer have been linked to PFAS chemicals found in AFFF among firefighters with this kind of repeated occupational exposure. If you trained at KI Sawyer Air Force Base's Fire Training Area or otherwise served as a firefighter there and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, our team can help you find out whether you're eligible to file.
Asbestos exposure at KI Sawyer Air Force Base
When KI Sawyer Air Force Base was built, asbestos was routinely used throughout military construction for its insulating properties and resistance to heat and fire. Materials commonly used across its hangars, alert facilities, and support buildings included:
The trades most likely to have disturbed these materials while maintaining KI Sawyer Air Force Base's facilities include:
Because most of the base's infrastructure went up during the peak years of asbestos use in military construction, maintenance personnel, utility workers, aircraft mechanics, and contractors working in these aging buildings and mechanical systems faced the greatest opportunity for exposure. Mesothelioma and lung cancer are the two conditions most strongly tied to this kind of exposure, and both can take 20 to 50 years to surface after the fibers are first inhaled, which means a diagnosis today may connect back to maintenance work performed decades earlier without any clear link at the time. If your service included that kind of maintenance work at KI Sawyer Air Force Base and you've since received one of these diagnoses, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.