Firefighting foam with a chemical thought to cause cancer and other health problems will be banned in two years for local fire departments and districts in Washington.
A new law signed Tuesday bans the group of chemicals that are contaminating some wells in Airway Heights and other water sources near military bases, although it won’t directly affect that contamination.
Perfluorinated or polyfluorinated compounds, or PFAS, are a key ingredient in some foams used to extinguish fuel fires, and also are commonly applied to firefighters’ protective gear. They last a long time, are almost indestructible under most natural situations and travel easily through the soil to get into underground water supplies.