Located near Lathrop, California, in San Joaquin County, the installation was established in 1941 as Lathrop Holding and Reconsignment Point before becoming Sharpe General Depot in 1948, named for Major General Henry G. Sharpe. Over the decades, the depot received, stored, repaired, packaged, and distributed military equipment and supplies, including vehicles and helicopters, and it continues supporting logistics missions today under the Army and Defense Logistics Agency. That long industrial history left the depot with extensive warehouses, maintenance shops, equipment repair buildings, machine shops, and fire stations, much of it built between the 1940s and 1970s.
Sharpe Army Depot maintained fire protection services to safeguard its warehouses, industrial buildings, fuel storage areas, and maintenance facilities. An Army PFAS Preliminary Assessment and Site Inspection specifically identifies a Nozzle Testing and Fire Training Area, located in an open field roughly 150 yards north of the former Fire Station, Building S-135, as an Area of Potential Interest due to documented AFFF use during training and nozzle testing. The same investigation notes that firefighters likely filled trucks with AFFF at Building S-135 and washed apparatus outside the station while it remained in service until 2014.
Exposure at these sites came from routine, repeated work:
- foam concentrate mixed before training exercises
- hoses operated against live and simulated fuel fires
- fire truck nozzles tested as part of standard maintenance
- vehicles and protective equipment cleaned outside the fire station
- foam storage tanks and delivery systems maintained between sessions
Army firefighters and trainees were most directly exposed, along with fire instructors, civilian firefighters assigned to the depot, and the personnel who kept firefighting vehicles and foam systems running.
Kidney cancer and testicular cancer have all been linked to PFAS chemicals found in AFFF, particularly among firefighters with this kind of sustained occupational contact. If you trained or worked as a firefighter at Sharpe Army Depot's Nozzle Testing and Fire Training Area or Building S-135, and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, our team can help you find out if you're eligible to file an AFFF claim.
Sharpe Army Depot was developed during World War II and expanded through the Cold War, decades when asbestos was standard in military construction for insulation and fire protection. Asbestos has since been specifically identified among the inorganic substances of concern during environmental investigations at the installation. Materials commonly used at the depot included:
- calcium silicate insulation
- boiler coating
- transite panels
- floor tile mastic
- window and door glazing compound
- furnace cement
- electrical panel backing
- valve
- joint compound
Workers with the greatest likelihood of disturbing these materials while maintaining the depot's industrial buildings included:
- Army engineer
- equipment maintenance personnel
- mechanic
- electrician
- pipefitter
- HVAC mechanic
- boiler technician
- welder
Sharpe Army Depot's decades as a logistics and equipment maintenance hub meant warehouses, machine shops, and utility systems saw continual repair work, often carried out well after asbestos was known to pose a health risk. Mesothelioma and lung cancer remain the two conditions most closely tied to that exposure, both capable of taking 20 to 50 years to surface after fibers are first inhaled. If you performed maintenance or repair work at Sharpe Army Depot and have since been diagnosed with either condition, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file a claim.