Travis AFB sits near Fairfield in Solano County, California. Originally established in 1943 as Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, it was renamed in 1951 to honor Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, who died when a B-29 bomber crashed at the installation. Today it's home to the 60th Air Mobility Wing, the largest air mobility organization in the Air Force, along with the 349th Air Mobility Wing of the Air Force Reserve, supporting strategic airlift, aerial refueling, aeromedical evacuation, and rapid deployment missions with aircraft like the C-5M Super Galaxy and KC-46 Pegasus. Over the decades, the base has also flown the C-124 Globemaster, C-141 Starlifter, C-17 Globemaster III, KC-10 Extender, and KC-135 Stratotanker.
As one of the Air Force's primary air mobility installations, Travis AFB has maintained Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting capabilities since it opened. Travis Air Force Base stands out among Air Force bases for having four separate, officially documented fire training areas spanning nearly its entire operational history. FT002 was used from 1943 to 1950 for training that involved burning waste fuels, oils, and solvents in open pits. FT003 took over for similar exercises from 1950 to 1952, followed by FT004, which operated from 1953 through 1962. FT005 then ran from 1962 until roughly 1988, shifting over time from burning waste fuels and solvents to fuels alone.
A typical training cycle at these sites might look like this for the people running it:
- an instructor walks trainees through mixing foam concentrate before the burn
- a crew member charges the hose line and knocks down the simulated fire
- the same crew spends the next hour cleaning trucks, hoses, and protective gear
- a maintenance technician services the foam tanks and delivery system before the next group arrives
- everyone involved returns for recurring certification exercises throughout their career, not just once
This cycle touched Air Force Fire Protection Specialists, ARFF crew members, fire instructors, firefighter trainees, and civilian firefighters under contract at Travis AFB, along with the maintenance staff keeping the equipment running. Research has linked PFAS chemicals in legacy AFFF to kidney cancer and testicular cancer among people with this kind of sustained occupational exposure. If you were part of that world at Travis AFB and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, it's worth having your history reviewed.
The rapid buildout of Travis Air Force Base during and after World War II happened at exactly the point in history when asbestos was the go-to material for anything needing fire resistance or insulation, and the base's construction crews used it accordingly. Over the years, the Air Force has run asbestos management and abatement work into its ongoing renovation and demolition schedule, chipping away at what's left in the installation's older buildings. Someone working in those buildings decades ago would have regularly come across:
- pipe insulation
- boiler insulation
- steam distribution systems
- HVAC ductwork
- fireproof wallboard
- roofing materials
- vinyl floor tile
- adhesive
- ceiling tile
- gasket and packing material
The trades most exposed to this material tended to be the ones actually taking buildings apart or fixing what was inside the walls:
- civil engineer
- electrician
- pipefitter
- HVAC mechanic
- boiler technician
- welder
- aircraft maintenance technician
- civilian contractor
Travis AFB tends to get discussed for its firefighter training history first, but its World War II and Cold War-era buildings carry the same underlying asbestos risk as any base built in that window. Two illnesses show up most often as a result: mesothelioma and lung cancer, both capable of staying dormant for 20 to 50 years before symptoms appear. If you spent time doing maintenance or repair work at Travis AFB and have since been diagnosed with either, get in touch with our team to see if you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.