Two NIST technical notes, a new NFPA standard, a stack of state bans, and a federal grant program have all landed on this question inside of two years: does the gear that protects firefighters from heat and chemicals also expose them to PFAS - and if so, what's actually changing about it. This is where the science, the regulation, and the procurement reality stand as of October 2026.
THE PROBLEM
The PFAS Problem in Turnout Gear
Turnout gear uses PFAS-based treatments in the outer shell and moisture barrier layers because those chemicals repel water, oil, and chemical contamination better than almost anything else available at scale. That performance is exactly why the same chemistry has been under scrutiny since firefighters started showing up with elevated PFAS blood levels compared to the general population, and why researchers started looking at the gear itself as a likely exposure pathway alongside aqueous film-forming foam.
NIST has spent two years building the data set. A December 2024 technical note (NIST TN 2313) found measurable PFAS in 25 of 32 textile samples pulled from gloves, hoods, and wildland gear, with the largest single concentration hitting 4,240 micrograms per kilogram. The highest levels showed up in the outer shell and moisture barrier - the layers doing the water and chemical repelling work - with lower but still-present levels in the thermal liner.
A follow-up study published in May 2026 (NIST TN 2375) added a variable departments hadn't fully accounted for: wear and tear changes the numbers. Used hoods and gloves showed increased PFAS levels compared to new ones, while used wildland gear showed decreased levels. Both studies are part of an ongoing NIST series measuring 55 distinct PFAS compounds in firefighter textiles, mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act specifically to build a baseline for risk assessment that didn't exist before.
Separately, a NIOSH/CDC health hazard evaluation found detectable PFAS compounds - including 6:2 FTOH and 8:2 FTOH - in the air inside a fire station, confirming what the gear studies implied: firefighters pick up PFAS exposure through multiple pathways at once, from firefighting foam residue to station dust to direct contact with gear that's still being worn on calls.
The take: The science stopped being theoretical two NIST technical notes ago. The open question for 2026 isn't whether PFAS is in the gear - it's whether what replaces it is actually safer, and that's the harder question departments need to start asking vendors directly.
Sources: NIST TN 2313, NIST TN 2375, and NIOSH/CDC HHE 2025-0042-3435.
THE STANDARD
NFPA 1970: The New Restricted Substances Standard
NFPA 1970 consolidated the prior separate standards covering turnout gear, SCBA, and other PPE into one standard, and it's the document carrying the industry's first real restricted-substances framework for PPE chemistry. It went into effect in late September 2024, and it's the standard every new-production gear order is now measured against.
The standard doesn't ban PFAS outright, but it creates a Restricted Substances List that caps PFAS and several other chemical classes, and it adds an optional label claim: a manufacturer can state gear is "PFAS-free" only if independent accredited lab testing confirms total fluorine content under 100 parts per million. That threshold matters because it's the number IAFF tells departments to demand proof of before accepting any PFAS-free marketing claim at face value - a vendor's internal testing doesn't satisfy it, and neither does a press release.
NFPA built in a transition window: manufacturers could continue selling gear produced under the prior standard until March 18, 2026, but everything manufactured after that date has to meet the new Restricted Substances List requirements. NFPA 1970 also mandated particulate-blocking hoods industry-wide, requiring at least 90% filtration of 0.1 to 1.0 micron particles while maintaining 325 W/m² total heat loss for breathability - a separate but related safety upgrade that's rolling out on the same timeline.
The take: March 2026 already passed. If your department is still receiving gear shipments without Restricted Substances List documentation, that's not a future compliance problem - it's a right-now one, and it's worth a direct call to your vendor before the next order goes in.
Source: IAFF - What to Know Before Purchasing "PFAS-Free" Gear.
THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE
State and Local Bans: The 2027 Deadline
While NFPA 1970 sets the national voluntary standard, a growing list of states have moved to make PFAS turnout gear illegal to sell outright, and the dates cluster hard around January 2027.
- Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all prohibit the sale of gear containing intentionally added PFAS starting January 1, 2027.
- New Hampshire moved first, requiring PFAS disclosure and then implementing a sale ban effective January 2025.
- California set a longer runway, with its phase-out timeline beginning in 2028.
- San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban PFAS gear back in 2024, well ahead of any state-level action.
- Vancouver committed $2.8 million to a PFAS-free procurement program, showing the same policy direction is active outside the U.S. as well.
At the federal level, the 2026 NDAA requires NFPA 1970 compliance for military and federal fire service gear, but notably does not set a PFAS phase-out timeline of its own - it defers to the civilian standard rather than creating a separate, stricter federal rule.
The take: If your department sits in Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, January 2027 isn't a planning horizon anymore - it's a procurement deadline that needs budget committed now, not during next year's capital cycle. Departments outside ban states should still move early, because every department in a ban state is about to be shopping for the same compliant gear at the same time.
Source: Milliken & Company - How PFAS Firefighter Gear Regulations Impact Turnout Gear.
WHAT "PFAS-FREE" MEANS
What "PFAS-Free" Actually Means in 2026
For years, the honest answer to "can we get PFAS-free turnout gear" was "only partially." Outer shells without PFAS treatments have been commercially available for a while. The real bottleneck was the moisture barrier - the layer that has to block bloodborne pathogens and hazardous liquids while still letting the garment breathe, a combination PFAS chemistry was uniquely good at delivering.
That bottleneck is now solved, at least by one named, verifiable composite. Milliken's Assure™ moisture barrier, paired with Fire-Dex gear, became the first fully non-PFAS turnout composite - outer shell, moisture barrier, and thermal liner all independently tested to zero detectable fluorine. Quincy, Massachusetts became the first U.S. department to complete a full replacement with this composite in July 2026, and East Providence ran an earlier deployment in 2025. Both departments sit inside Massachusetts' January 2027 ban window, which is not a coincidence - they needed compliant gear in hand before the deadline, not promised gear.
One caution worth building into any procurement conversation: a 2025 Duke University study found that some gear marketed as "PFAS-free" showed elevated levels of brominated flame retardants instead - a different chemical class with its own health concerns, swapped in to replace the chemistry that got removed. That's precisely why NFPA 1970's independent-lab-testing requirement for the PFAS-free label claim matters as much as it does. A marketing claim without an accredited total-fluorine test behind it doesn't tell you what actually replaced the PFAS.
The take: Quincy and East Providence prove the technology works at full department scale, not just in a lab sample. But "PFAS-free" without an independent lab report in hand could mean the PFAS got replaced with something nobody's tested for yet. Ask for the total fluorine number and ask what replaced the PFAS chemistry specifically - not just whether it's gone.
Source: Milliken & Company - Quincy Fire Department Completes Non-PFAS Turnout Gear Replacement.
WHAT TO DO NOW
What Departments Should Do Now
The research, the standard, and the state bans point toward a consistent short list of actions departments can take immediately, regardless of where they sit on the replacement timeline.
- Follow IAFF's exposure-reduction guidance now, before gear is replaced. Keep turnout gear out of living quarters and sleeping areas, clean apparatus cabs regularly, wash hands and exposed skin after any call involving gear contact, and run full decontamination procedures after structure fires - all practices that reduce PFAS exposure regardless of what the gear is made of.
- Require Restricted Substances List documentation on every purchase. Don't accept a PFAS-free claim without an accredited independent lab report showing total fluorine under 100 ppm, per the NFPA 1970 standard.
- Prioritize replacement timelines by legal exposure. Departments in Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are working against a hard January 2027 deadline and should be furthest along; departments in states without a ban still benefit from moving ahead of the compliance rush other departments will create.
- Track NIOSH's PFAS Alternatives Act funding as it becomes available. The PFAS Alternatives Act authorizes $25 million per year from FY2025 through FY2029 for NIOSH grants funding PFAS-free turnout gear research and testing, and separately requires guidance and training on safe wear, decontamination, and gear care starting in FY2027 - funding and training resources worth watching for as they roll out.
- Consider a blood testing program. The military's model of baseline and periodic PFAS blood testing for exposed personnel is one departments can adapt, giving individual firefighters and department health programs real exposure data instead of relying on gear specifications alone.
None of this requires waiting on a budget cycle. The documentation requirement costs nothing beyond asking a vendor a direct question before signing a purchase order, and the decontamination habits are procedural changes a shift can start enforcing this week. The gear replacement timeline is going to move at whatever pace state law and department budgets allow, but the exposure-reduction side of this problem is fully within a department's control right now, independent of what's sitting in the apparatus bay.
The take: The exposure-reduction habits cost nothing and work today, independent of what's in the budget for new gear. Start there while the procurement timeline catches up - don't wait for compliant gear to show up before changing how the current gear gets handled.
Sources: IAFF and S.4844 - PFAS Alternatives Act.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
Whether other departments follow Quincy and East Providence into full non-PFAS composite replacement ahead of the Massachusetts deadline, or whether most departments wait until closer to January 2027 and run into a supply crunch - a theme that first surfaced in Issue 015's coverage of San Francisco's PFAS-free adoption and continued through Issue 019's look at Arizona and Michigan firefighter PFAS blood-level data.
Whether the Duke University brominated-flame-retardant finding prompts NFPA to add a second restricted-substance label requirement, given how directly it undercuts trust in the PFAS-free claim as currently defined.
Whether NIOSH's PFAS Alternatives Act grants produce gear options beyond the Milliken Assure™/Fire-Dex composite before the 2027 ban deadlines arrive, a funding thread that connects to the federal grant landscape covered in Issue 013.
