Located in Brevard County, Florida, adjacent to Cape Canaveral, the installation began as Naval Air Station Banana River before transferring to the Air Force in 1948 and being renamed to honor Major General Mason M. Patrick. Today Patrick SFB is home to Space Launch Delta 45, supporting Space Force launch operations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station along with military, commercial, and NASA space missions. Decades of aircraft maintenance, fuel storage, and fire protection work required hangars, machine shops, warehouses, and steam and HVAC systems, much of it built between the 1940s and 1970s.
The Department of the Air Force published an installation-specific PFAS Site Inspection Report for Patrick AFB, one of the more detailed records available for any Air Force base, documenting that AFFF use for firefighter training began in 1970. What stands out in that report is how many different parts of daily operations it connects to AFFF, not just a training pit:
- fire training facilities where live-fire drills were run
- hangar fire suppression systems that firefighters maintained and tested
- equipment testing and maintenance work involving foam delivery systems
- real emergency responses to aircraft mishaps and fuel spills, not just simulated ones
Because AFFF touched hangar systems and live emergencies in addition to scheduled training, firefighters at Patrick AFB likely had more frequent contact with the foam over a career than firefighters at bases where AFFF use was confined to a single training area.
Air Force Fire Protection Specialists and ARFF personnel carried the bulk of this exposure, joined by fire instructors, firefighter trainees, civilian firefighters assigned to Patrick AFB, and the staff who maintained firefighting vehicles and foam systems.
Kidney cancer and testicular cancer have all been linked to PFAS chemicals found in AFFF among firefighters with this kind of sustained exposure. If you trained or served as a firefighter at Patrick AFB and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, our team can help you find out whether you're eligible to file an AFFF claim.
Like most installations built during and after World War II, Patrick Air Force Base made extensive use of asbestos for its fire-resistant and insulating properties. Materials commonly used throughout its hangars, machine shops, and barracks included:
- pipe insulation
- boilers
- ceiling tiles
- wallboard
- gaskets
- floor tiles
- furnace cement
- roof coating
- valves
Given the base's aircraft maintenance and aerospace mission, occupational exposure was especially likely among:
- fireman
- aircraft workers
- welders
- electricians
- engineers
Patrick AFB has operated continuously since the 1940s, and its maintenance buildings, hangars, and utility systems date to decades when asbestos-containing materials were standard throughout military construction. Personnel responsible for maintaining this aging infrastructure faced the greatest opportunity for exposure across the base's long operational history. Mesothelioma and lung cancer remain the two illnesses most closely tied to that exposure, both known for taking 20 to 50 years to surface after fibers are first inhaled. If you worked at Patrick 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.