Sea-Tac’s legacy of PFAS chemicals: ‘foam showers,’ sick firefighters and contaminated water

Sea-Tac’s legacy of PFAS chemicals: ‘foam showers,’ sick firefighters and contaminated water | The Seattle Times

In this photo of a Sea-Tac training exercise in the 1980s or early 1990s, crews use PFAS firefighting foam. They wear self-contained breathing apparatus in this photo, but firefighters have said that they often… (Courtesy of the Port of Seattle Fire Department)

SEATAC — In the 1980s, rookie firefighters at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport endured a hazing ritual known as the “foam shower.”

Recruits stood some 150 feet down the tarmac with 5-gallon buckets and were told to catch firefighting foam shot out of a crash-response truck’s water cannon.

They would wear the usual helmet and heat-resistant gear, but still ended up drenched as the bubbly white liquid rained down on them.