Chippewa Valley tech helps develop new firefighting foam

Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Fire Safety Center was a crucial testing ground for a PFAS-free firefighting foam derived from soybeans.

Earlier this week, the Wisconsin State Senate passed a proposed bill which would allow fire departments to be partially reimbursed for the purchase of soybean-based fire suppressants through a Department of Natural Resources grant program. The goal is to reduce the use of PFAS-based firefighting foams due to the negative health and environmental effects of the forever chemicals.

David Garlie is the Managing Partner and Chief Tech Officer of Cross Plains Solutions, which developed a product called Soyfoam. Garlie says the use of soybeans for fire suppression dates back to World War II before it was replaced by the forever chemicals.

“So in the 60s, what comes out on the scene? PFAS,” he said. “And it addressed all of the challenges to using soybeans for fire suppression. Viscosity, shelf life, and so that replaced soybeans. So now we’re here today, knowing that the PFAS that we replaced the soybeans with has resulted in some unfortunate events.”

Garlie says he was looking for a place to test his formulas for Soyfoam, and connected with Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Fire Safety Center. Over the years, he and his team would develop new samples, bring them to the Fire Safety Center for testing, and use the feedback received from firefighters to improve their next sample.

Chris Turner is the Lead Technician at CVTC’s Fire Safety Center. He says their goal is to develop a firefighting foam that is just as effective as PFAS-based foam without the negative health implications, including an increased risk of developing cancer.

“The real difference with Soyfoam is they’ve committed to first and foremost making a safe foam and used plant-based products in order to do that,” he said. “So the likelihood of, you know, another 20 years down the road, one of those other chemicals that might have been used as a replacement for PFAS, who knows what we can find out later that could actually be harmful as well. Whereas with the plant-based products we have a much better comfort level to say that this is actually a safe foam that we can use for years to come with no either health or environmental effects.”

Turner and Garlie both testified in support of the bill before the State Senate Committee on Agriculture and Revenue. They say in addition to developing a foam that’s safer for firefighters and the environment, the product also helps the state’s soybean farmers who are struggling with the impact of tariffs on international markets.

“We’re looking for ways to diversify their customer base,” said Garlie. “And Soyfoam is one of those opportunities. Instead of going to China, for example, we can take a part of that grind and we can repurpose it into firefighting foam.”

Garlie also said he expects to testify on the legislation again before the Wisconsin State Assembly in mid-December.