For decades, it was standard gear at fire stations. Now, hundreds of New Jersey departments are getting rid of it.
Fire departments across New Jersey are disposing of aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, a firefighting foam that has been used to put out flames and is laced with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, commonly called “forever chemicals.”
“It was like sitting on a bomb,” Jacobstown Volunteer Fire Chief Robert Gancarz told CBS News. “How am I going to get rid of this?”
Jacobstown’s fire station had used AFFF since the mid-1980s. Gancarz got rid of all 580 gallons of it.
“The very tools I am using can cause health problems,” Gancarz said. “They can kill you.”
Studies link AFFF exposure to higher cancer rates among firefighters.
New Jersey is one of more than a dozen states working to collect, remove and destroy all of their AFFF. The state has so far collected more than 568,000 litres from fire stations.
All of it has been trucked to Revive Environmental, an Ohio company that specializes in PFAS destruction.
“We process it directly through our super critical water reactors,” said Rick Gillespie, CEO of Revive Environmental. “And what comes out of those reactors is clean water.”
But firefighters’ protective equipment also contained PFAS for decades.
“It was in the gear and everything,” 76-year-old “Boots” Gancarz, Robert Gancarz’s father, said. “I had that every time you put it on and went to a call.”
Boots Gancarz fought fires all his adult life. In 2024, doctors told him he had colon cancer.
“I’m going to beat this,” Boots Gancarz said. “They ain’t shoveling dirt in my face yet.”
Robert Gancarz showed CBS News his department’s new PFAS-free foam, which is made with soybeans.
“We have to use a little bit more of this product, but it can still put the fire out,” Robert Gancarz said.
He has been blood-tested, and the results showed PFAS levels higher than those of the average American.
Asked if he is worried about a possible cancer diagnosis for himself, Robert Gancarz responded, “It’s definitely a scary, scary thing to think about.”
Read more from CBS.
