PFAS-Free Turnout Gear Is Real: How to Get It in 2026

A year ago, PFAS-free turnout gear was a promise manufacturers kept making and departments kept waiting on. That’s over. The San Francisco Fire Department has now put roughly 1,100 sets of non-PFAS gear on every suppression member — the largest U.S. department to complete the transition — and a wave of state laws taking effect in 2026 is forcing the rest of the industry to follow. If you’re a firefighter, this is the year the conversation at your station changes from “someday” to “what’s our timeline.”

The Transition Is No Longer Theoretical

San Francisco’s rollout is the proof of concept. The city passed an ordinance in May 2024 banning PFAS in turnout gear with a June 30, 2026 deadline, then beat it: the department completed its fleet-wide switch by the end of December 2025, outfitting its entire suppression force with Fire-Dex AeroFlex gear built on Milliken’s Assure moisture barrier. The purchase was funded largely by a $2.35 million FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant with matching city funds, and the department ran a 90-day wear trial with 50 firefighters in live-fire training before committing. Every set is UL-certified and meets both the NFPA 1971-2018 and the new NFPA 1970-2025 standards.

The technical detail that matters: the moisture barrier was always the hard part. Outer shells and thermal liners could be made without fluorochemical finishes years ago, but the middle layer — the membrane that keeps water and blood-borne pathogens off your skin — was built on expanded PTFE, itself a fluoropolymer. PFAS-free barrier membranes only reached the market in 2024. That’s why full-stack non-PFAS gear went from impossible to purchasable in about eighteen months, and why departments well beyond San Francisco — including smaller agencies like Horry County Fire Rescue, the first in South Carolina — are now placing orders.

What NFPA 1970-2025 Actually Changed

The new consolidated NFPA 1970 standard (which absorbed NFPA 1971 for structural gear) did two things firefighters should understand before their department writes its next gear spec.

First, it created a restricted substances list. Turnout gear materials are now screened against hundreds of chemicals of concern — heavy metals, brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, phthalate plasticizers — with independent lab attestation required before a material can be used in a certified garment.

Second, it created an optional low-PFAS certification label. Manufacturers can now certify that a protective element has “a PFAS (total fluorine) concentration of no more than 100 ppm,” verified by combustion ion chromatography at an independent lab. Note the careful wording: the standard deliberately avoids the phrase “PFAS-free,” because trace fluorine contamination is nearly unavoidable in modern manufacturing. The 100 ppm threshold aligns with California’s regulation that began in 2025 — and California’s limit tightens to 50 ppm in early 2028, which will pull the whole market lower. When a salesperson says “PFAS-free,” the question that cuts through the marketing is: is it certified to the 100 ppm total-fluorine label under NFPA 1970-2025?

The Law Is Coming to Your State

Even if your department isn’t shopping yet, disclosure and ban deadlines are stacking up fast. Massachusetts required PFAS-containing gear to be clearly labeled as of January 2025 and bans the sale of PFAS turnout gear starting January 2027. Illinois manufacturers had to begin reporting PFAS use in firefighting PPE on January 1, 2026. Connecticut and Vermont both require written notice to the buyer — including the reason PFAS was added — for any gear sold with intentionally added PFAS starting July 1, 2026. Washington’s reporting requirement lands January 31, 2027, with product restrictions beginning that year, and California has its own law aimed at eliminating PFAS from turnout gear.

For you, the practical effect is leverage. Manufacturers are racing to certify low-fluorine product lines because the biggest markets are closing to the old chemistry. Supply that was a bottleneck in 2024 is becoming a catalog item in 2026 — which means “we can’t get it” is aging out as an answer.

What to Ask For at Your Station

You don’t need to be the chief to move this. Here’s the playbook:

1. Find out what’s in your current gear. Ask which moisture barrier your kits use and when they were manufactured. If your state has a labeling law, the answer may already be sewn into the garment.
2. Get PFAS language into the next gear spec. Push for the NFPA 1970-2025 low-PFAS certification label (100 ppm total fluorine) as a line item in the purchasing spec — that phrase does more than any amount of hallway advocacy.
3. Point your department at the money. San Francisco funded most of its transition with a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant. If a 1,100-member department can grant-fund the switch, a 40-member department can too — AFG applications with a documented carcinogen-reduction rationale are strong candidates.
4. Ask for a wear trial. A 60–90 day trial with a handful of crews, including live-fire training, is how SFFD de-risked the decision. It answers durability and comfort objections with data instead of arguments.
5. Keep managing exposure in the meantime. Until your gear is replaced, the fundamentals still apply — gear stays out of living quarters, on-schedule NFPA 1851 cleaning, doff and bag after fires. New gear reduces one source; hygiene covers the rest.

The Bottom Line

Firefighters carry a documented excess cancer burden, and for years the gear question felt like something you could only worry about, not act on. That’s changed. The products exist, the certification language exists, the grant money exists, and the legal deadlines are doing the pushing. Your job is to make sure your department isn’t the last one wearing the old chemistry. For more on reducing occupational exposure, cancer screening schedules, and building a long-career health plan for police and fire, visit policefire.health.

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. BadgeBiohacking (policefire.health) is a comparison and review site. We may earn affiliate commissions from links on this site. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting any treatment.