Tucson, Arizona – The Tucson Airport Authority (TAA) has used an Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) for firefighting operations at Tucson International Airport under the FAA’s mandatory safety standards contained in Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 139 to protect the air traveling public. Beginning around 1970, the TAA firefighting vehicles have been required to carry and use PFAS containing AFFF for emergency response and to complete airport firefighting training and testing requirements. This regulation applied to all commercial service airports like the Tucson International Airport (TUS).

The TAA is committed to fully understanding the extent of PFAS impact both on and around the airport. As the first step to delineate the scope of possible PFAS containing AFF impact, TAA has performed a Preliminary Assessment (PA) for AFFF on airport property. The PA identifies potential areas where AFFF has been released or stored throughout the property, either from TAA or tenant use. The PA goes further to identify Areas of Concern (AOC). The AOCs consist of both historical and current fire training areas and nozzle testing areas, storage areas, emergency incident sites and warehouse spaces, vehicles maintenance areas, and hangars or structures equipped with fire suppression systems. Several AOCs will be more formally evaluated in future soil and water sampling programs.

The TAA is committed as a community partner to assess potential impacts from PFAS containing AFFF and is currently coordinating closely with the EPA and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) on a testing plan to assess and quantify the possible sources of PFAS in the soil and regional aquifer. TAA will assemble and share the sources of PFAS in the TUS area. Once the extensive data gathering is complete, the goal of TAA’s close work with the EPA, ADEQ, the Air Force and the City of Tucson is to formulate a comprehensive mitigation and remediation plan to address the presence of PFAS in the soil and regional aquifer.

To access the full preliminary assessment, please click here.

For further inquiries on this Preliminary Assessment, please reach out to Chief Communications Officer, Austin Wright at Awright@flytucson.com.