PFAS in firefighter gear: 28 cities sue 3M, DuPont, Honeywell, others

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Dozens of fire departments and public agencies across the country are suing the makers of their own protective gear, saying the equipment meant to keep firefighters safe was secretly laced with toxic chemicals.

Fire-Dex in the crosshairs

What we know:

A sweeping federal lawsuit filed Sept. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota names Fire-Dex, LLC as one of more than 20 defendants accused of knowingly manufacturing and selling firefighter turnout gear contaminated with PFAS, or "forever chemicals." Among the 20-plus defendants are 3M, Honeywell and Dupont.

The lawsuit was filed by 28 public entities — including cities, counties, townships and volunteer fire departments — spanning more than a dozen states. 

Fire-Dex, LLC and its related entity Fire-Dex GW, LLC, are both based in Medina, Ohio. According to the complaint, both companies designed, manufactured, marketed and sold finished firefighter turnout gear that was knowingly contaminated with PFAS chemicals.

Which fire departments bought Fire-Dex gear

Several of the plaintiffs specifically purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex brand. According to the complaint, those include:

• The City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, whose fire department serves approximately 564,559 people across 23 stations with approximately 777 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex and Honeywell Morning Pride brands.
• The Burlington Community Fire Protection District in Illinois, which serves approximately 535 people from one station with approximately 28 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Globe and Fire-Dex brands.
• The City of Gary, Indiana, whose fire department serves approximately 67,289 people across eight stations with approximately 147 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex AeroFlex brand.
• The Gassaway Volunteer Fire Department in West Virginia, which serves approximately 759 people from one station with approximately 20 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Globe, Honeywell Morning Pride and Fire-Dex or Innotex brands.
• Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Dept Inc of Porter County, Indiana, which serves approximately 11,048 people from one station with approximately 35 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Morning Pride and Fire-Dex brands.
• The City of Loretto, Tennessee, whose fire department serves approximately 1,739 people from one station with approximately 20 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex, Lion and Globe brands.
• The City of Louisville, Ohio, whose fire department serves approximately 9,521 people from one station with approximately 26 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex brand.
• The Town of Stanley, North Carolina, whose fire department serves approximately 3,963 people from one station with approximately 43 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Globe and Fire-Dex brands.
• The City of Steubenville, Ohio, whose fire department serves approximately 18,161 people across three stations with approximately 43 firefighters, purchased gear bearing the Fire-Dex brand.

What the lawsuit claims

The backstory:

According to the complaint, PFAS chemicals are present in all three layers of structural firefighter turnout gear — the outer shell, the moisture barrier and the thermal liner. The outer shell is commonly treated with PFAS-based water-repellent finishes, the moisture barrier is often made with or laminated with a PFAS-based membrane, and the thermal liner is in many products treated with or made from PFAS-containing materials, or becomes contaminated through ordinary contact with other layers during manufacturing or wear.

The plaintiffs allege that for decades, the defendants knew PFAS chemicals are toxic, persistent and build up in the body over time, and that human exposure to PFAS is linked to cancer, thyroid disease, immune suppression, and reproductive and developmental harm. Despite that knowledge, according to the complaint, the defendants continued to design, manufacture, supply, market and sell PFAS-containing turnout gear while representing it as safe and protective.

What they're saying:

The complaint alleges the defendants concealed and misrepresented the presence and dangers of PFAS in turnout gear to protect a profitable market for PFAS-based products and to avoid the cost of reformulating, warning or remediating the gear. According to the filing, firefighters and the public entities that equip them were kept in the dark while PFAS migrated from the gear onto skin, into fire stations and into the equipment used to store and launder the gear.

The plaintiffs say PFAS is present throughout the turnout gear they purchased — not as an accidental contaminant, but as an engineered feature specified, supplied and applied by the chemical, component and gear manufacturer defendants. Each plaintiff says it has incurred and will continue to incur costs to test, retrieve, remove, dispose of and replace the contaminated gear, and that it lost the benefit of the bargain it was promised when it bought the equipment.

What we don't know:

It is not yet known how much each plaintiff has spent or expects to spend on testing and replacing the contaminated gear, and no response from Fire-Dex, LLC or any other defendant has been made public as of the filing date.