NFPA Journal - Fall 2022 - 32

" As we started digging into what
it would require to switch to a fluorine-free
system, it just snowballed
from the engineering standpoint, "
Souza said. " Pretty much every airport
is completely freaking out about how
they are going to get this foam thing
taken care of. "
Oil and gas facilities have faced similar
engineering challenges, Hawthorne
said. Larger companies such as Shell,
Chevron, Exxon, and BP have conducted
extensive studies on the performance
of fluorine-free foams and are either in
the process of converting their AFFF
systems or have already done so. " Some
of the hardware needs to be recalibrated,
some of it needs to be replaced.
It's the same kinds of questions with
the storage tanks and fire trucks, " said
Hawthorne, noting that municipal fire
departments may also need to replace
or recalibrate fire pumps on trucks
that carry foam. The new hardware
and specifications also mean that the
workers who service and maintain
the equipment need to be retrained,
as do any firefighters that work at the
site. That involves rewriting training
manuals and reworking operating procedures,
Hawthorne added.
There is also the lingering issue of
how to inform and educate outside
firefighters and contractors about the
new foams and systems. Many oil and
gas facilities do not employ a full-time
fire department onsite and rely instead
on local municipal fire departments to
assist during an incident.
" I may have a terminal that is going to
switch out the foam to fluorine free, but
the municipal fire department I'm working
with is still using AFFF, " Hawthorne
said. " If you just spent a lot of money to
replace the AFFF, you don't want your
mutual aid partners to come in and contaminate
your facilities if you have a fire,
so we have to work with them to figure
out how to handle that. The petroleum
industry is still grappling with that challenge
across the world, from Rotterdam
to Singapore to New York. "
THE ROAD AHEAD
Though numerous petroleum facilities
and some fire departments have
already made moves to replace AFFF,
32 | NFPA JOURNAL * FALL 2022
a large percentage remain reluctant
to do so. Back estimates that roughly
20 percent of the petroleum industry
has made the switch, but little data is
publicly available to confirm the actual
number. " I think the rest of the industry
is still playing a wait-and-see game
just to see whether the products get a
little bit better, " he said.
One issue consistently raised by
experts is what is referred to as " transition
regret. " Since the early 2000s, the
industry has moved through a number
of different AFFF formulations, with
each eventually phased out due to
health and environmental concerns.
Although fluorine-free foams may not
contain PFAS, nobody can say yet with
certainty that the chemicals they do
contain won't eventually be found to be
hazardous in other ways. " Nobody wants
to transition to fluorine free and then
in three or four years have to transition
again, " Hawthorne said. " A large refinery
might have 20,000 to 40,000 gallons
of foam concentrate, so replacing all of
that is no small matter. "
Municipal fire departments must
consider numerous factors as they determine
when and how they might switch
to fluorine-free foam. In states where
AFFF has been banned or restricted,
the movement has been swifter as
the sunset date for AFFF approaches.
Resources, department size, and what
types of facilities a department protects
are all factors that likely contribute
to how well-informed individual fire
departments are on the foam issue,
Hawthorne said.
" Big-city departments like Chicago, LA,
Atlanta, New York-particularly the more
progressive ones that also have airports
to protect-are probably actively engaged
in this transition, " Hawthorne said.
" When you look at smaller departments,
which are the vast majority of fire departments
in the US, I think we would find
they are either unaware, or are aware and
not sure what to do. That was the whole
purpose of the Foundation's roadmap
report-to provide those fire departments
with a guide for how to do it. "
There is reason to believe that the
Foundation's guidance document could
become important soon. Many experts
like Hawthorne believe that the effort
to replace AFFF will shift into high gear
as soon as the new fluorine-free military
specifications are published early
next year. The first fluorine-free foams
that the military officially approves will
likely trigger large purchases by the US
government and high-profile airports,
which will signal to hesitant petroleum
facilities and fire departments that it
is time to move forward. " When that
happens, fire departments all over the
US are going to say, 'we now have foams
that we can use' and will start to make
the jump to fluorine free, " Hawthorne
predicts. New firefighter protocols and
training, along with updated equipment
and other key changes, will need to
follow soon after, experts say.
Acknowledging that the journey has
only just begun, the Research Foundation
has applied for additional funding
to continue its efforts to keep stakeholders
informed. The proposed new project
will aim to generate recommended
best practices and tactics guidance for
firefighters using the new fluorine-free
foams. The results could help inform
badly needed new training programs for
departments across the world as they
make the transition away from AFFF.
Ongoing research will also be vital,
Back said, to stay on top of changes as
foam technology evolves. " We've done
hundreds of fire performance tests over
the past five years on the various capabilities
of these products and there is
no question that the manufacturers are
tweaking their formulations and making
them significantly better as we go, " he
said. Some manufacturers even claim to
have developed fluorine-free foam concentrates
with low enough viscosities to
work with minimal changes to existing
infrastructure.
Regardless of the final capabilities
of new-generation foams, it will matter
little if facilities managers don't spec
the right foam or if firefighters aren't
adequately trained to use it. Hawthorne,
Back, and others believe that
the new foams are good enough as currently
formulated to handle whatever
situation is on the other end of the 911
call. Now it's up to the safety community
to get ready.
JESSE ROMAN is senior editor at NFPA Journal.
NFPA Journal - Fall 2022

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