Alan Robidas felt a sense of relief as he watched gallons of firefighting foam, which had been sitting in storage at the Concord Fire Department for at least 20 years, being loaded into trucks for disposal.

This was part of a statewide initiative, where fire departments from across Merrimack County bought gallons of their PFAS-laden firefighting foam to the New Hampshire Fire Academy on Tuesday.

“We are finally getting rid of this foam,” said Robidas, captain at the Concord Fire Department. “It’s been lying in a lot of fire departments for decades. This has been a real monkey on the back of fire departments across the country.”

This material, called Aqueous Film Forming Foam, was used for tackling flammable liquid fires, like those from motor vehicle accidents or plane crashes involving large fuel spills. It was designed to smother flames and prevent dangerous explosions by suppressing the vapors of flammable liquids.

However, this lifesaving foam, developed in the 1960s, contains high levels of PFAS, which are harmful to both the environment and the health of firefighters

“While it’s important for fighting fires when it’s used, it’s very persistent,” explained Michael Wimsatt, waste management director at the state’s environmental agency. “It can get into the soil and groundwater and cause contamination of groundwater and drinking water wells.”

To address this issue, the state has launched a take-back program, setting up nine collection points across New Hampshire to gather firefighting foam until the end of the month.

The state is expecting to collect 10,000 gallons of firefighting foam by the end of the program.

Once collected, the foam will be shipped to Revive Environmental Technology in Columbus, Ohio, under a $1 million contract for its collection and destruction.

There, it will undergo advanced treatment using PFAS Annihilator technology. This process starts by removing salts from the foam, followed by a specialized supercritical oxidation process at extremely high temperatures to ensure the substances left after aren’t harmful to the environment and public health.

Many states are working to implement similar programs. Vermont and Maine have already put such programs into action to safely dispose of hazardous foam.

At Tuesday’s collection event, Concord Fire Department delivered 125 gallons, Allenstown over 700 gallons, and Bedford delivered less than 100 gallons.

The push to phase out legacy firefighting foam began in 2019 with the signing of Senate Bill 257. This bill tasked the state Department of Environmental Services with cataloging the foam stockpiled in fire departments across the state. 

In 2023, after identifying the optimal disposal method, the department partnered with Revive to manage the disposal.

Fire departments nationwide are making a crucial shift from PFAS-contaminated foams to safer, fluorine-free alternatives. 

Concord, for example, transitioned from the harmful foam several years ago and has since adopted new foaming agents. 

While these new options are nearly as effective as the older toxic ones, they require additional training for fire department personnel to master their use.

Robidas explained that the older foam spread rapidly and easily across fuel fires, while the newer foams are a bit more challenging to apply. 

Despite these issues, he emphasizes that moving away from the harmful foam is a significant environmental victory. 

“This is a huge step in the right direction, even if us on the fire department side, the folks on the hose line, have to make some adjustments,” said Robidas. “It’s well worth it.” 

The PFAS-laden foam is not only harmful to the environment but is also a known carcinogen. 

In his 23 years with the Concord Fire Department, Robidas has witnessed around 100 colleagues develop unusual cancers. 

“They run the gamut of different types of cancers, and what they all seem to share, the common link is there's no rhyme or reason for any of this stuff, except we all work for the fire department,” said Robidas.

While the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t mandated airports to switch to safer foams yet, the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport also delivered 720 gallons of foam to the state on Tuesday.

While some foams still in use at fire departments contain some level of PFAS, they are newer formulations and are less hazardous than legacy foams.

“We are headed towards where we want to be, which is where all the foams used in the state, whether it's in an airport or local fire department responding to a gasoline tank or rollover is going to be fluorine-free,” said Wimsatt.