Located about seven miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, California, McClellan AFB was established in 1935 as the Sacramento Air Depot. Unlike many operational flying bases, it specialized in aircraft overhaul, logistics, electronics repair, and depot-level maintenance rather than combat flight operations, supporting military aircraft from around the world through World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War before closing under the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure program. Spread across more than 3,000 acres, the depot included hundreds of industrial buildings, maintenance hangars, warehouses, machine shops, boiler plants, and fire stations where thousands of military and civilian workers maintained aircraft, engines, electronics, and hydraulic systems for decades.
McClellan's identity was maintenance and logistics, not combat flying, but that only meant its Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting unit had a different kind of pressure: protecting a depot full of aircraft, fuel, and repair shops rather than an active flight line. Air Force environmental restoration records document several dedicated Fire Training Areas on base where that readiness was built, year after year, through live-fire drills against simulated aviation fuel fires.
Firefighters at McClellan weren't exposed through any single incident, the risk came from the accumulation of ordinary training days:
- foam concentrate mixed and loaded before each drill
- hoses charged and fires knocked down during live-fire exercises
- trucks and gear cleaned once a session ended
- foam tanks and delivery systems serviced ahead of the next round
- certification renewed on a recurring cycle throughout a firefighter's career
Fire Protection Specialists and ARFF crew members carried the heaviest exposure, but instructors running the drills, trainees working toward certification, civilian firefighters contracted to the depot, and the technicians who kept the trucks and foam equipment operational were all part of that same routine.
Studies have linked PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF to kidney cancer and testicular cancer in firefighters with this kind of sustained exposure. Anyone who went through that training cycle at McClellan and later received one of these diagnoses should have their history reviewed for a potential claim.
From the 1930s through the 1970s, asbestos was routinely built into military depots like McClellan for its heat resistance, insulating properties, and fire-hazard reduction. Numerous Air Force restoration projects have included asbestos abatement in the base's legacy buildings as they were renovated or demolished over the years. Materials commonly used in this era included:
- pipe insulation
- boiler insulation
- steam distribution insulation
- duct insulation
- fireproof wallboard
- roofing materials
- vinyl floor tiles
- ceiling tile
- valves
- packing material
Occupations most likely to have disturbed these materials during depot operations and building repairs include:
- aircraft maintenance technician
- civil engineer
- electrician
- plumber
- HVAC mechanic
- boiler technician
- welder
- machinist
- civilian depot employee
McClellan's role as a major maintenance depot meant its aircraft overhaul shops, power plants, and warehouses required continual upkeep, increasing the odds that maintenance personnel encountered asbestos-containing materials during routine work. Mesothelioma and lung cancer remain the two illnesses most closely linked to that exposure, often taking 20 to 50 years to surface. A diagnosis received now could connect back to work performed at the depot decades earlier. Reach out to our team to find out if that history makes you eligible to file an asbestos claim.