91 Plaintiffs Sue 3M, Fire Safety Cos. Over Alleged Water Contamination Near Fairchild Air Force Base

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Ninety-one plaintiffs have put their names on a proposed class action lawsuit against The 3M Company and others over the alleged contamination of surface and groundwater near Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington. The case claims the contamination resulted from the use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) and other materials containing perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and similar fluorochemicals chemicals—made and sold by the defendants—during firefighting training exercises conducted at Fairchild AFB since the 1970s. According to the complaint, AFFF use has caused widespread contamination of the potable water drawn from private wells and/or the municipal water supplies by the nearby communities of Airway Heights and Medical Lake, and has been linked to various cancers, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis and hypercholesterolemia, among other conditions.

The lawsuit alleges that 3M and co-defendants Tyco Fire Products L.P.; Buckeye Fire Equipment Company; Chemguard Inc.; and National Foam, Inc. manufactured and distributed AFFF to Fairchild AFB despite knowing the foam contained inherently dangerous chemicals that posed an “unreasonable risk to human health and the environment.” Moreover, the suit charges that the defendants knew AFFF and PFOS were highly soluble and mobile in water, and therefore likely to contaminate water supplies and “bio-accumulate” in humans.

“The defendants failed in their duty to warn users, bystanders and sensitive receptors of the inherently dangerous properties of their [Aqueous Film Forming Foam],” the lawsuit asserts.

The plaintiffs represent a proposed class of more than 11,600 Airway Heights and Medical Lake residents the lawsuit says were exposed to and/or had their properties contaminated by PFOS-tainted water.