Upcoming Live Session: How to support transitioning from PFAS containing firefighting foams to alternative foams
About the webinar
Time: 26 March 2026 from 15:00-17:00 CET (16:00-18:00 Helsinki time)
This webinar will be held on Teams. You will get the Teams link after registration. The webinar will be recorded and will be available to watch on this event page for two weeks.
Register now!
In this webinar, we will be discussing an Arctic Council pilot on how to approach a clean out and how you can apply it to your PFAS transition programs.
Pilot overview:
An Arctic Council project was initiated in 2019 to support transitioning from PFAS containing firefighting foams to alternative foams or other fire suppression methods under Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP). In 2023, ACAP published AFFF Phase Out in the Arctic: Transition Manual, prepared by ENRgConsultants (UK), which addressed changes required to transition to PFAS free foam related to system effectiveness and clean-out. The project is coordinated by Finnish Environment Institute and United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The official pilot to test the Arctic approach to clean out was launched in Finland in 2025:
- Two fire engines (military and civil airport truck foam containers) were cleaned out in accordance with the ACAP transition manual.
- Cleaning waters were treated locally using adsorbents to study possibilities to reduce the amount of PFAS contaminated waste waters.
- In addition, sprinkler pipes from airport hangars were subjected to different treatments in a laboratory.
- PFAS contaminated waters created during the cleaning were analysed in both a commercial laboratory in Europe as well as FREDSense laboratory in Canada, using rapid PFAS analysis.
Agenda:
● Welcoming remarks: Patrick Huber (US EPA, ACAP chair)
● Introduction to AFFF/PFAS Foam Transition: Niall Ramsden (ENRgConsultants/LASTFIRE)
● Project overview: Timo Seppälä (Finnish Environment Institute)
● Fire Engine & Sprinkler Clean-Out: Jaakko Valtonen (Farsol Oy)
● On-Site Cleaning Water Treatment: Antti Seppälä (Engwater Oy)
● Rapid PFAS Detection in Cleaning Waters: Blake Farris (FREDSense)
● LIve Discussion and Q&A
Funded by: Ministry for international affairs of Finland and coordinated by Finnish Environment Institute (Syke).
Partners: Defence Properties Finland and Finnish Aviation Authority (Finavia), Farsol Oy, Engwater Oy, FREDSense (Canada), and ENRgConsultants (UK).