Internal emails show forest service knew PFAS were in firefighters’ pants

What ProPublica reported about forest service gear and PFAS

U.S. Forest Service officials knew for years that pants used by wildland firefighters contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to internal correspondence obtained by ProPublica.

ProPublica reported that the agency was alerted as early as 2021, ahead of public acknowledgement of the issue.

In February 2024, ProPublica said it asked the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior whether federal wildland firefighting gear contained PFAS.

The organisations provided near-identical replies stating they did not have “specific measured concentration data showing that PFAS is contained in protective clothing and gear.”

ProPublica said the emails show the Forest Service chose to wait for the results of a study into whether PFAS can be absorbed through the skin before sharing information more widely.

Emails show internal questions and supplier responses

ProPublica said the emails were released last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2022 by George Broyles, a former Forest Service employee who studied smoke exposure among firefighters.

Broyles said: “They just obfuscate.

“It’s just a continuation of the same thing: ‘We’re going to stick our heads in the sand and hope that nobody notices.’”

In April 2022, ProPublica said a senior Forest Service official named David Haston asked colleagues whether TenCate’s fabric was “still coming with PFAS in the finish?” and whether there was a duty to notify employees.

ProPublica said earlier emails show a Forest Service equipment specialist asked TenCate in April 2021 whether the Shelltite finish on its Advance fabric had any PFAS presence.

A TenCate manager replied with a document confirming one of its finishes contained a form of PFAS applied to repel hydrocarbons and gasoline, and said the company was developing a finish without the compound.

TenCate did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment.

ProPublica said emails from TenCate to the Forest Service described the finish as using a form of PFAS with six or fewer fluorinated carbon atoms.

Studies, health concerns and what remains unclear

ProPublica said the Forest Service decided in 2022 to wait for studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), including one on whether PFAS can be absorbed through skin, before making decisions.

A Forest Service physiologist wrote that a labour advocacy group should submit an official request for the information.

ProPublica reported that the Forest Service never told rank-and-file wildland firefighters that their pants might contain PFAS.

Bryan Ormond, an associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at North Carolina State University, said: “From the wildland firefighting perspective, I don’t see any reason to have the PFAS treatments in their gear.

“They don’t really need the oil repellency.

“It would be a safer option to not have the PFAS treatment.”

In January 2023, a senior director at TenCate wrote: “To the best of our knowledge wearing ADVANCE with Shelltite or Supershelltite has not caused deleterious health impacts,” and the company also told the agency it was producing a PFAS-free finish for the pant fabric.

ProPublica said it is unclear whether the government began purchasing pants with the new finish or continued to purchase pants with PFAS.

In 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a study mandated by Congress in 2021, and ProPublica said it found some wildland firefighting gear contained PFAS.

Heather Stapleton, an exposure scientist and professor at Duke University, said the study showed levels in certain samples “similar to what has been reported in structural firefighting gear.”

ProPublica said NIST did not respond to its questions, and the NIOSH study that Forest Service officials were waiting on remains ongoing.