New DEC Rules on AFFF Foam Storage and Use

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued Emergency Rules and has concurrently proposed a Formal Rule Making on the storage and use of AFFF firefighting foam. These actions are being taken to address concerns about the potential environmental and public health impacts of these substances.

DEC adopted an Emergency Rule that modifies the list of hazardous substances in Part 597 to include:

perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA-acid, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) No. 335-67-1),
ammonium perfluorooctanoate (PFOA-salt, CAS No. 3825-26-1),
perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS-acid, CAS No. 1763-23-1), and
perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS-salt, CAS No. 2795-39-3)

The effect of these new rules on fire departments is that the fire service can use AFFF until April 25, 2017, for fighting a fire, but should discontinue the use of any Class B foam for training purposes. OFPC recommends use of training foam, Class A wetting agents, or a mild dish detergent verified not to contain materials listed as hazardous substances for the purpose of conducting Class B foam training. Any Class B foam containing these hazardous substances must not be released to the environment after April 25, 2017, and should be properly disposed of.

In addition – if you use AFFF that contains these hazardous substances to fight a fire and more than one pound of a hazardous substance is released to the environment, then the release must be reported to the DEC's Spill Hotline at (800) 457-7362. In order to determine if there has been a release of one pound or more, you will need to know the amount of foam concentrate that has been used and the concentration of the hazardous substance in the foam. Manufacturers may provide guidance on their websites on how to make this determination, but if this is not the case you should contact the manufacturer of any AFFF in stock to determine the percentage of these compounds it may contain.

Please click on the following links for additional information:

OFPC’s Guidance to Fire Departments Regarding Foam Concentrates Which May Contain Hazardous Substances

DEC Proposal

NYSAFC will continue monitor this DEC proposal. At the current time there are no funds available to fire departments to replace existing stockpiles of foam or to assist in disposal of old stocks. NYSAFC recommends that any fire department that has stockpiles of this foam not wait until the deadline to replace it.