FIRE STATIONS TOXIC PROBE

EVERY major fire station in Tasmania is being investigated for potential contamination from toxic chemicals used in firefighting foam — described as “the Agent Orange of firefighting”.

Firefighting additives containing per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as “PFAS” were used in Tasmania until 2012.

ABC-TV’s Four Corners this week raised concerns about PFAS contamination and its risks to human health.

The chemicals do not break down in the environment.

Australian Health Protection Principal Committee describes the chemicals as a serious concern: “the toxicity, mobility, persistence and bioaccumulation potential of PFOS and PFOA pose potential concerns for the environment and for human health’’.

The Tasmania Fire Service yesterday confirmed inquiries at each of its metropolitan fire stations and training facilities which have been identified as “having a high potential of contamination”.

“Sites subject to further investigation to rule out PFAS contamination include all career fire stations in Greater Hobart, Burnie, Devonport and Launceston, and TFS training facilities at Three Mile Line (Burnie) and Youngtown (Launceston) where a limited amount of PFAS has been used in the past,’’ a spokesman said.

The fire service’s training facility at Cambridge is one area of concern.

“The department of police, fire and emergency management has completed an envi- ronmental assessment of the TFS Cambridge facility and has implemented a management plan which includes continual testing of PFAS levels at the site and the surrounding environment,” the spokesman said.

“TFS has been communicating with staff and volunteers via email and intranet notice. Members were told in this communication that the Cambridge on-site testing results indicate elevated levels of PFAS in the shallow soil.

“The results are not at levels considered to pose an unacceptable risk to the human health of site users. TFS has been liaising with neighbour- ing landowners and conducting off-site testing.”

An inquiry in Victoria found contamination by firefighting chemicals at the Fiskville training site were likely to have caused cancer and other illnesses in fire and emergency services workers

United Firefighters Union spokesman Mick Tisbury said if the Victorian experience was repeated, he would expect the TFS to find extensive contamination.

“This is the Agent Orange of firefighting. You don’t excrete it out of your body. It has a sixto eight-year half-life,” he said.

“We thought it was harmless, it’s not harmless ... it’s like a ticking time bomb. We’ve started having blood tests done and we’ve got blokes with 600 nanograms in their blood and the safe level is five.”

He welcomed the Tasmanian investigations into PFAs contamination and said every firefighter should be tested.

“Every firefighting training centre in the country they've tested so far has come back positive,” he said.