Since the 1960s, Ohio’s firefighters have put out oil and gas fires with aqueous film forming foam, known as AFFF. It’s effective at eliminating liquid-based fires, but it comes with a risk: the foam is known to contain high concentrations of PFAS.
These toxic ‘forever chemicals’ are associated with a number of health risks, including cancer.
Last week, the state launched a new program to help. Governor Mike Dewine announced the start of the Aqueous Film Forming Foam Takeback program, an initiative that will allow firefighters to dispose of the hazardous material that’s being stockpiled in departments across the state.
WYSO’s Adriana Martinez-Smiley reported on its launch, and sat down with The Ohio Newsroom to explain.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
On the statewide solution
“Through [the AFFF Takeback] program, fire departments can register how many gallons of AFFF they have, and they can drop them off to one of ten collection sites that will be scattered across the state. All of this foam will be taken to a central facility that's equipped with PFAS annihilators, which are devices that are capable of destroying PFAS. Now, there's no official count, but state officials believe there are tens of thousands of gallons of this foam. Ohio's the first state in the country that will collect and destroy all of the AFFF, so this is a pretty big deal.”
On how the technology works
“Well, how it was described to me is that, you know, this technology doesn't set out to filter out the PFAS, like some other forms of technology do. It's able to completely destroy it. So what makes PFAS so strong are the carbon fluorine and these chemicals. How the technology works is by putting these chemicals under intense heat and pressure, which can actually break these molecular bonds. And once the bond is broken, it returns to its original state [of] carbon and fluorine. And what you're left with is a non-hazardous byproduct.”
On its impact on fire departments
“So Revive Environmental, the company that owns the commercialized PFAS annihilator, says that they've already received over a thousand gallons of PFAS from fire departments. And firefighters also have an increased risk of cancer, which, as we now know, could be related to this.”
“Since 2022, Ohio has banned [AFFF’s] use in firefighting training. But that doesn't mean that it's not being used during actual responses because it does work. So what Director Ann Vogel was saying, from the Ohio EPA, is that they believe that some fire departments may still be using it, but there are some foams out there that do not contain PFAS that are capable of doing the same thing.”
On future use of the technology
“According to Battelle, the inventors of the PFAS annihilator, [it] can also be used to treat water leaching from landfills or on contaminated groundwater. Now, I'm not certain yet if the state will employ these other uses using the annihilator, but it is something that they expressed interest in. I know that Ohio EPA Director Ann Vogel said that they just want to see how this program works, and then they will go from there.”
