The Washington Department of Ecology announced Monday it will begin collecting and incinerating stockpiles of a toxic fire retardant foam that was used by fire departments for decades before the state restricted its use in 2018.
The same type of foam was long used at Fairchild Air Force Base and blamed for contaminating West Plains water supplies, including the city of Airway Heights' tap system.
Manufactured by chemical giants including 3M Co., the foam contains per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been linked with an array of health problems.
The man-made compounds, also used in products such as Teflon and Scotchguard, are sometimes called "forever chemicals" because they degrade extremely slowly in the environment and in the human body.