State Fire Marshal discusses PFAS efforts in Michigan

MARQUETTE — On Saturday, October 13, the state Fire Marshall was in Marquette to discussion Michigan’s actions on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) firefighting foam.

The Marquette Fire Chief, State Fire Marshall, and other fire officials held a round-table discussion to address the State’s overall efforts with issues involving the use of fire suppression foam, also known as PFAS.

“Well, one of the things that we’ve been out doing is we’re surveying the fire departments across the state to find out who has Class B AFFF foam and that’s part of our process of working with MPART and the Governor’s group that is looking at PFAS” said State Fire Marshall, Kevin Sehlmeyer. “This is only a segment of the great work that’s being done around the state, but we’re trying to survey fire departments to get an idea of how much that we have so we can come up with a solution for if the foam is used, how does that foam get cleaned up so that it doesn’t have an impact on the environment.”

They have been working to get the word out for about 6 months.

Their goal is to get all 1,035 fire departments to complete the survey so they are able to figure out the best solution for removing the Class B AFFF foam.