AFFF Litigation

AFFF Firefighting Foam in Pennsylvania

Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) was used for more than 50 years to suppress fuel-based fires at military installations, civilian airports, oil refineries, and by municipal fire departments. AFFF contains high concentrations of PFOS, PFOA, and related PFAS that have contaminated groundwater across Pennsylvania.

Who may qualify

  • Firefighters — municipal, volunteer, industrial, airport, and military firefighters who used AFFF for live-fire training, equipment testing, or fire response.
  • Military veterans & civilian base personnel — particularly those stationed at Pennsylvania installations such as NAS Willow Grove, NAWC Warminster, Horsham Air Guard Station, Letterkenny Army Depot, the Pittsburgh ANG Base, and the Pennsylvania National Guard 193rd Special Operations Wing (Harrisburg).
  • Residents who lived in communities whose drinking water was contaminated by AFFF runoff — including Warminster, Warrington, Hatboro, Horsham, Chalfont, Doylestown, Bensalem, and Chambersburg.
  • Airport & refinery workers with documented AFFF exposure.

The federal AFFF MDL

Personal-injury claims against AFFF manufacturers (3M, DuPont, Chemours, Tyco Fire Products / Chemguard, Buckeye Fire Equipment, National Foam, and others) are consolidated in the AFFF Products Liability Multidistrict Litigation (MDL 2873) in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Pennsylvania plaintiffs file individual cases that are coordinated for pretrial proceedings inside the MDL. 3M reached a $10.3 billion settlement with public water systems in 2023; personal injury claims remain pending.

Documenting your AFFF case

A qualifying AFFF case typically requires: (1) documented exposure to AFFF or to a water supply contaminated by AFFF, (2) a qualifying medical diagnosis, and (3) a timeline that matches generally accepted medical and scientific causation. Service records, employment records, training certificates, water-utility notices, and medical records are key. Our intake team will tell you what to gather.