By Will Atwater
The recent fires ravaging Los Angeles have highlighted the dangers faced in firefighting — winds, fast-moving flames, smoke, chemical fumes — but it turns out that one of the most persistent hazards faced by firefighters could be the very clothing designed to protect them, according to a recent report.
In December, the National Institute of Safety Standards and Technology, a federal agency tasked by Congress to evaluate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in firefighting gear, released the results of its third study on the topic. The report states that the chemicals — known collectively as PFAS — permeate protective gear such as the lightweight shirts and pants designed to support firefighters who fight forest fires and the gloves and hoods that protect crews fighting structural fires.
PFAS have become known as “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the environment and the difficulty of breaking them down.
“Our latest study showed that PFAS are present not only in the jacket and pants worn by firefighters, but also in many of the smaller protective garments,” said Rick Davis, National Institute of Safety Standards and Technology chemist and study co-author. “Measuring the presence of the chemicals is the first step in understanding their impact on firefighters.”
This study builds on previous research by the agency and reported by NC Health News, which found PFAS in pants and jackets worn by firefighters who battle structure fires. Those studies also included stress tests on the garments meant to evaluate how PFAS would react as the protective gear aged and the chemicals coating the gear degraded.
A study published in 2015, showed that firefighters had higher rates of PFAS in their blood than other participants. A 2020 study then found that PFAS compounds on the gear’s outer shell degrade into dust particles that can become unstable and shed — where they can be inhaled and ingested.
‘Forever chemicals’
Research suggests that firefighters’ cancer rates, which are higher than those of the general population, may be in part related to extended exposure to PFAS.
The compounds accumulate in people’s bodies, and researchers have found evidence that suggests links between PFAS exposure and a list of negative health impacts, such as weaker antibody responses against infections, elevated cholesterol levels and kidney cancer in adults.
For nearly 70 years, PFAS have been a fixture in the consumer market, and they are ubiquitous in manufactured goods. The compounds can be found in numerous products, including but not limited to nonstick cookware, food packaging and even dental floss — along with some firefighting foams. PFAS comprises a class of nearly 15,000 compounds, according to CompTox, a chemical database maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dating back to the mid 1970s, PFAS compounds have been applied to firefighting protective gear because of their water repellent properties, which are key to protecting firefighters from receiving steam burns during a fire. The repellent properties of PFAS compounds also protect the gear from becoming drenched and heavy, also a potential danger to firefighters.
Key takeaways
The study included four types of gloves, eight types of hoods and nine types of wildland firefighting gear, according to the report. “Researchers pulled the garments apart into 32 textile samples and extracted PFAS from the samples into a solvent. Then they tested each solvent to see if it contained any of 55 different PFAS chemicals,” the report explained.
Davis said the researchers found 19 PFAS, with a range of PFAS found in each sample.
“Most had only a little, but a few had large amounts,” Davis said.
“Between zero and nine individual PFAS were observed above their respective reporting limits in each textile,” the report stated, “with the highest numbers of detections and highest concentrations of PFAS present in wildland gear textiles, compared to glove textiles, which had the second highest, and hood textiles which had the lowest.”
“We weren’t sure if we were going to find [PFAS] or not” in the wildland gear, Davis said. “What we found, in some ways, surprised us only in that it is in there. But the amount that we found is extremely variable from product. There are some where it’s in the parts per million and others where it’s not detectable.”
The National Institute of Safety Standards and Technology points out that the study doesn’t draw any conclusions about the potential health risks to firefighters by the gear. Instead, the results fill in data gaps, which will help health professionals develop exposure-risk assessments, according to information provided by the agency.
Reactions
“I find it very concerning, to be honest, because of how these products are being marketed,” said Scott Mullins, president of the Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association of North Carolina, in response to the results.
Mullins said he expects more of the same once the agency completes more testing.
“I think they’re going to do a stress test next,” Mullins said during a phone interview. “I suspect that we’ll see higher concentrations of PFAS detected in that future report.”
Bryan Ormond, assistant professor at N.C. State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, said the higher levels of PFAS found in wildland firefighting gear may have to do with manufacturers needing to meet more than one industry safety standard to protect multiple users.
“Because these are lighter-weight garments, you can imagine not just wildland [firefighters], but, like I said, technical rescue or even fire investigators groups may use these.”
One aspect of the study that stood out to Ormond was that the hoods tested were the older or traditional hoods that offer two layers of protection, he said.
However, the new standard for firefighting hoods established by the National Fire Protection Association required manufacturers to update the two layers of protection offered by the traditional hood with “what we call particulate blocking hoods for all structural firefighters, and they didn’t look at any of those.” The new hoods protect against soot and smoke landing on the skin.
“The hoods, we were informed, were most widely used [and] representative of the market in 2020,” said Davis by email in response to the questions raised about the hoods.
Looking toward the future
Davis said he expects a report detailing the PFAS found on the garments during stress testing will be published late this year. The institute’s latest report comes as manufacturers are starting to move away from PFAS-laden gear and market firefighting gear that is free from the chemicals.
The International Association of Fire Fighters announced in an article published on its website in October 2024, that Vancouver, Canada, became committed to outfitting all of the city’s firefighters with PFAS-free gear in 2025.
“It means we can spend less time worrying about the gear we wear and more time focusing on meeting the increasingly challenging needs of our city,” Vancouver Local 18 President Katrina Davison said in a statement published by the IAFF.
To reduce exposure for firefighters who are still using older PPE, Ormond shared some advice: “If there’s older gear that is still in inventory and you’re getting issued or something like that, I absolutely would put it through a couple of washes” before wearing it.
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