Firefighting training areas and AFFF exposure

AFFF was used in military firefighter training exercises to put out fires that were intentionally ignited in pits

Firefighting training areas usually consist of paved or unpaved facilities where fires are set. In the military, the pit is lined with concrete, filled with crushed rock, and has a piping system that allows firefighters to pump contaminated JP-4 jet fuel from a fuel truck. Firefighters prepare the pit by spraying water into it so that the fuel remains on the surface. It is worth noting that the turnout gear firefighters wear, known as "silvers", is made with PFAS, too, which are present within several different layers of material.

Waste firefighting water containing AFFF are often conveyed through unlined site drainage ditches to effluent treatment centers designed to remove hydrocarbons – but not PFAS – and are subsequently discharged to third-party wastewater treatment plants, surface water, or groundwater. These practices, as well as the incomplete capture of fire suppression fluids across the firefighting training area, stormwater runoff, or leaks through cracks in concrete pads, have resulted in releases of PFAS in the environment.