- Title:
-
The Environmental Impact of Fire Fighting Foams: Operational and legal implications (PDF)
- Date:
- September 2008
- Organisations
- Institute of Fire Engineers,
- Authors:
- Dr. Roger A. Klein
- Location:
- Cambridge, United Kingdom
Overview
The International Bushfire Research Conference 2008 - incorporating The 15th annual AFAC Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
As a result of the 3M Company’s decision in 2000 to discontinue the manufacture of PFOS-based fluorosurfactants including AFFF for firefighting on environmental grounds, there is now a heightened awareness worldwide of the potential impact on the environment of fluorosurfactants and their degradation products. Both PFOS-based and fluorotelomer-based surfactants breakdown to give a range of highly stable polyfluorinated molecules which have been reported at high concentrations in groundwater at former fire fighting foam training sites [1-3]. Perfluorinated sulphonates and carboxylic acids are widely dispersed throughout the environment and the animal kingdom, especially in remote sites such as the polar regions implying far-reaching atmospheric or oceanic transport.
It is the highly persistent nature of pefluorinated materials that represents the biggest environmental challenge for the Fire Service in terms of dispersion resulting from the operational use of foam and the legal implications that follow.
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The Environmental Impact of Fire Fighting Foams – Operational and Legal Implications (Presentation)
0930_Klein.pdf
