Originally established as March Field, the installation sits in Riverside County, California, and has served the U.S. Army Air Service, Army Air Forces, U.S. Air Force, and now the Air Force Reserve Command. During World War II and the Cold War, March became one of the nation's premier strategic bomber bases, housing the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, B-52 Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker, and later the KC-10 Extender, before being redesignated March Air Reserve Base in 1996 under BRAC. Today it hosts the 452nd Air Mobility Wing, the largest Air Force Reserve wing, alongside numerous Reserve, Guard, and civilian tenant organizations spread across generations of construction.
As one of the Air Force's largest strategic aviation installations, March has maintained Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting operations for decades to protect its bomber, tanker, and transport aircraft. Firefighters trained with AFFF because it rapidly suppressed high-intensity Class B fuel fires, and Air Force environmental restoration records identify former dedicated fire training areas on the installation tied to this historical activity.
Training exercises included:
- aircraft crash rescue drills
- live-fire aviation fuel fire exercises
- foam application training
- emergency response simulations
- fire suppression equipment testing
- recurring ARFF certification exercises
Firefighters handled AFFF directly through:
- testing foam proportioning systems
- cleaning firefighting vehicles and protective gear
- maintaining foam storage and delivery systems
- mixing foam concentrate
- operating hoses during aircraft fire training
- extinguishing simulated aviation fuel fires
Roles with the greatest likelihood of this exposure include:
- Air Force Fire Protection Specialist
- Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting crew member
- fire training instructor
- firefighter completing initial certification
- civilian firefighter assigned to the base
- foam and vehicle maintenance technician
Studies have linked PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF to kidney cancer and testicular cancer among firefighters who handled the foam repeatedly over their careers. If you trained or worked as a firefighter at March Air Reserve Base and later received one of these diagnoses, that history is worth having reviewed.
March Air Reserve Base's major construction and expansion ran from the 1930s through the Cold War, a period when asbestos was standard for fire protection and thermal insulation in military buildings. The Air Force has carried out asbestos abatement projects at March Air Reserve Base for years as older facilities were renovated or demolished, confirming the presence of legacy materials across the installation. Common materials from this era included:
- HVAC insulation
- pipe insulation
- boiler insulation
- roofing materials
- vinyl floor tile
- mastic
- ceiling tile
- steam distribution components
- fireproof wallboard
- gasket and packing material
Personnel most likely to have disturbed these materials while repairing aging infrastructure include:
- plumber, pipefitter
- HVAC mechanic
- civil engineer
- electrician
- boiler technician
- civilian contractor
- welder
- construction worker
Veterans and civilian employees who worked in March Air Reserve Base's older hangars, maintenance buildings, or utility systems face an elevated risk of mesothelioma and lung cancer, two conditions that often stay hidden for 20 to 50 years before symptoms appear. Because of that long gap, a diagnosis received today could be connected to work done at the base decades earlier. Reach out to our team to find out whether that history makes you eligible to file a claim.