Located in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, Lowry AFB operated from 1938 until its closure in 1994 under the Base Realignment and Closure program. Originally established as Lowry Field, the installation was named for Second Lieutenant Francis Brown Lowry, Colorado's first World War I military aviator killed in combat. Lowry AFB became one of the Army Air Forces' largest technical training centers during World War II and continued as a principal Air Force technical school through the Cold War, supported by aircraft maintenance hangars, machine shops, electronics laboratories, boiler rooms, and fire stations built largely between the late 1930s and the 1970s.
Lowry AFB doesn't have the same catalog of individually named fire training sites as some other Air Force installations, but the underlying facts point the same direction: the Air Force required AFFF for Class B petroleum fire suppression starting in the early 1970s, and Lowry AFB's fire protection personnel operated straight through that entire period until the base closed in 1994, protecting aircraft, fuel storage areas, and its extensive technical training infrastructure.
That two-decade window means anyone assigned to fire protection duties at Lowry AFB during the 1970s, 80s, or early 90s would have trained with AFFF as standard procedure, not the exception:
- foam concentrate mixed before live-fire and certification exercises
- hoses operated against simulated fuel fires during training
- protective equipment and vehicles cleaned after each drill
- foam storage tanks and delivery systems maintained on an ongoing basis
Air Force Fire Protection Specialists and ARFF personnel carried the bulk of this exposure, alongside fire instructors, firefighter trainees, civilian firefighters assigned to Lowry AFB, and the staff responsible for keeping trucks and foam systems in working order. Environmental restoration work at the former installation has also addressed former fire training areas and hazardous waste sites since the base closed.
PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF have been tied to kidney cancer and testicular cancer among firefighters with this kind of sustained occupational exposure. If you trained or served as a firefighter at Lowry AFB between the 1970s and its 1994 closure and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, that history is worth having reviewed.
Lowry AFB was built well before asbestos use began declining in military construction, and its buildings from the late 1930s through the 1970s reflect that timing. Materials commonly used throughout its hangars, classrooms, and dormitories included:
- duct insulation
- boiler coating
- acoustical panels
- floor tiles
- wallboard
- roof coating
- electric boards
- joint compound
- valves
Trades with the greatest likelihood of disturbing these materials during repair or renovation work included:
- aircraft workers
- engineers
- electricians
- welders
- firemen
Lowry AFB operated for more than five decades, and its World War II and Cold War-era maintenance buildings, dormitories, and utility plants stayed in continuous use long after the health risks of asbestos became widely known. Maintenance, engineering, and construction personnel working in these facilities faced the greatest opportunity for exposure throughout that history. Mesothelioma and lung cancer are the two illnesses most closely tied to that exposure, both capable of staying hidden for 20 to 50 years after fibers are first inhaled. If you performed maintenance work at Lowry Air Force Base and have since been diagnosed with either condition, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.