AQUEUOUS FILM FORMING FOAM AFFF
Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) contains water and other chemical components,
including ethylene and propylene glycol which extend the life of the Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF).
The firefighting foam comes in a concentrate mixed with water.
It’s available in three percent and six percent formulas, depending on how much water is in the mix.
Firefighters use AFFF to extinguish fires that are difficult to fight with water alone,
especially those that involve flammable liquids, like petroleum.
In order to make the mixture foamy and create a film that helps extinguish fires,
AFFF contains chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,
PFAS. Manufacturers have used PFAS in consumer and industrial products since the 1950s.
Two of the most common types of PFAS found in AFFF are perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and/or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
These chemicals are human-made compounds that don’t occur naturally in the environment.
firefighters spray AFFF onto a fire, and it works by coating the fuel behind the fire and by cooling the fire.
It also covers the fuel in a film that prevents oxygen from reaching the fuel.
