When the filing window for lawsuits seeking compensation for cancers and other illnesses linked to exposure to toxic aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) closed on Sept. 5, 2025, it did so with little notice to the firefighters it was meant to protect, including those in Wisconsin.
Fewer than 13,000 claims were filed nationwide, a small fraction of the more than 1 million firefighters in the United States. This gap has raised questions about awareness of the filing process and access to legal information among potentially affected individuals.
Firefighters in smaller and volunteer departments may have faced additional barriers to learning about filing deadlines. In many of these departments, limited administrative resources, part-time staffing and reduced access to legal outreach may have limited the reach of information about filing deadlines to some personnel.
This is a story about who did not file a lawsuit and why many firefighters may have been left behind while companies that profited from toxic products continue to avoid full accountability.
Toxic foam, local consequences
For decades, AFFF has been widely used by fire departments, industrial sites and military facilities because of its ability to rapidly suppress fuel-based fires. The foam’s effectiveness comes from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of toxic chemicals known for their serious health risks.
Often called “forever chemicals,” PFAS persist in the environment and build up in the human body. Studies have linked PFAS exposure to kidney and testicular cancers, thyroid disease, immune dysfunction, and other long-term illnesses. Firefighters show higher PFAS levels in their blood than the general population from routine AFFF use and wearing PFAS-contaminated turnout gear meant to protect them.
PFAS contamination is widespread in Wisconsin. Elevated levels of these toxic chemicals have been found in the state’s drinking water, resulting from firefighting foam used at military installations and airports. While the contamination threatened the public through the water supply, it also exposed the risks firefighters faced from regularly using the foam.
A broken notification system
Wisconsin is home to 809 fire departments and roughly 25,000 firefighters. Nearly 80% of those departments rely on volunteer personnel. Many of those firefighters may have been exposed to AFFF during their service, yet the exact number of Wisconsin firefighters who filed claims before the Sept. 5 deadline is not available in consolidated public data. Nationwide, fewer than 13,000 claims were submitted in total, a figure that suggests vast numbers of potentially affected firefighters never filed at all.
Volunteer departments may have faced particular barriers. Many operate with limited administrative resources and part-time staffing, leaving little capacity to track litigation deadlines alongside the demands of active firefighting. Without dedicated staff tracking occupational health developments, information about the filing window may never have reached the people who needed it.
There was also no centralized system to notify retirees or firefighters who had already left service due to illness, the population arguably most in need of compensation. Without a mechanism to track AFFF claims at the local level, many firefighters likely had no way of knowing the window existed at all.
Removing barriers to ensure fair compensation
Firefighters who missed the filing window now face a much harder path to compensation.
Claims may still be filed, but only with causation reports directly linking their illness to PFAS exposure. These reports may cost thousands of dollars in expert fees to obtain, creating heavy burdens for firefighters already battling illness.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., introduced the Firefighter PFAS Injury Compensation Act in 2024, but it stalled in committee without a vote.
Similar legislation should be reintroduced. Such a bill would establish a no‑fault compensation system that presumes PFAS‑related illnesses were caused by PFAS exposure during firefighting activities, allowing eligible firefighters to receive compensation without having to prove causation in the traditional legal sense. Compensation would be tied to the illness and length of service, with determinations required within 120 days of filing.
Beyond legislation, agencies must also mandate outreach programs and unified notification systems for future compensation programs. Such measures would ensure firefighters are not excluded from relief due to broken outreach systems.
For firefighters in Wisconsin and across the nation, these reforms could change lives.
Honoring their sacrifice means delivering on these reforms. We must go beyond symbolic gestures to concrete actions that truly support firefighters both during and after their service. The AFFF filing window revealed a systemic failure. What matters now is whether we choose to learn from it.
Jordan Cade is an attorney with the Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., based in Birmingham, Alabama, where he represents firefighters and their families affected by exposure to PFAS and other toxic chemicals.
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