AFFF litigation is one of the largest ongoing mass torts in the country. Thousands of firefighters, military veterans, and airport workers are calling plaintiff firms every week. Many of those calls are going to whoever picks up the phone — someone with no script, no training, and no idea what questions to ask.
If your firm is taking AFFF cases, the difference between a qualified plaintiff and a wasted hour is what happens in the first four minutes of that call. This guide gives you the exact framework to qualify or disqualify an AFFF caller before you commit a single attorney hour.
Aqueous film-forming foam — AFFF — is a firefighting agent used since the 1960s at military bases, commercial airports, and training facilities. It works by smothering fuel fires faster than water. It also contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the human body or the environment.
3M, DuPont, and other manufacturers knew PFAS were accumulating in the blood of workers and nearby residents. Internal documents produced in discovery show they knew about toxicity risks for decades before the public did. The MDL (In re: Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation, D.S.C. MDL 2873) has consolidated thousands of claims. Settlement activity is accelerating.
What this means for intake: you are not dealing with a single event like a car accident. You are dealing with years of cumulative occupational or environmental exposure. The caller may not know the name AFFF. They know they fought fires, or they trained at a base, or they lived near an airfield. Your job on that first call is to connect their story to the legal framework — without requiring them to know the science.
Before asking about cancer, establish exposure. There are three primary pathways to document on the first call.
The Department of Defense used AFFF extensively at naval air stations, Army airfields, and Marine Corps air stations from the 1970s through the 2010s. PFAS contamination has been confirmed at over 700 military installations. The highest-risk veterans are those who worked directly with AFFF in fire suppression, crash/fire/rescue roles, or aircraft refueling. Proximity to base water supplies and fire training areas also creates exposure even for non-firefighter personnel.
Key question: “Did you work at a military base — especially near the flight line, a fire training area, or a fuel depot?”
The FAA mandated AFFF use at commercial airports for decades. Municipal firefighters who responded to airport calls, airport rescue and firefighting (ARFF) crews, and industrial firefighters at refineries, chemical plants, and oil terminals were exposed routinely. Some were trained on AFFF burn pits where exposure was direct and concentrated.
Key question: “Were you a firefighter — municipal, industrial, or airport-based — who worked with foam or responded to fuel fires?”
PFAS migrates from training areas into groundwater. Residents and workers who lived near contaminated installations and used municipal water drawn from contaminated aquifers may qualify, though these cases are harder to build and some MDL defendants have filed separate challenges. Flag these for attorney review rather than qualifying on intake alone.
Not every cancer diagnosis qualifies under the current litigation landscape. The following cancer types have the strongest scientific and evidentiary support and are the primary focus of MDL 2873 personal injury claims.
Do not hard-disqualify on the first call. Tell the caller you need to have an attorney review their specific situation. Take the full intake, note the diagnosis, and route to the attorney. The litigation is evolving and the qualifying conditions list has expanded over time.
The goal of this sequence is to build the exposure and injury picture quickly without making the caller feel interrogated. Lead with their story, then narrow to the facts you need.
“Tell me a little about what you did — were you in the military, a firefighter, something else?”
Let them talk for 60 seconds. You are listening for: branch of service, years of service, where they were stationed, what their job was. This is more reliable than asking “did you work with AFFF” because many callers do not know the product by name.
“How long were you in that role, and what years are we talking about?”
You are looking for: minimum 1 year of relevant exposure. Longer is stronger. The peak exposure era is 1970-2010. Post-2010 cases are thinner because PFAS-free alternatives began replacing AFFF after regulatory pressure increased.
“Do you remember the name of the base or facility where you worked?”
If it is a known contaminated installation (Naval Air Station Pensacola, Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Langley Air Force Base, Patrick Air Force Base — there are hundreds), note it specifically. The contamination map is publicly available; your team can cross-reference after the call.
“Have you been diagnosed with any kind of cancer or serious illness?”
Let them name it. Do not lead them to a specific cancer. If they say “kidney cancer” unprompted, that is the strongest fact pattern. If they say “I had some kind of cancer but I do not know what it is called,” get the medical records authorization on the call — you will verify later.
“When were you first diagnosed, and are you still in treatment or have you finished?”
This matters for two reasons: statute of limitations and case value. Active treatment = current damages and more compelling plaintiff. Post-treatment = need to confirm SOL has not run. Deceased family members calling on behalf of a loved one = potential wrongful death claim, route directly to attorney.
“Have you spoken with any other attorneys about this, or do you have any active claims related to your cancer?”
If they have a signed retainer with another firm, stop the intake. If they consulted and declined, or if they are shopping, that is still a live lead — document it and note any prior firm name.
These are the red flags that end the intake. Do not spend another 20 minutes on a call that is going nowhere.
The 3M settlement announced in 2023 — $10.3 billion to resolve public water system claims — drew significant attention to AFFF litigation. Personal injury settlement values vary widely based on cancer type, severity, treatment history, and duration of exposure. General benchmarks from litigation observers:
These are not guarantees and the MDL settlement landscape is still developing. The point for intake: a well-documented AFFF kidney cancer case with 10+ years of military firefighting exposure is a meaningful case. Do not let it walk out the door because the person on the phone did not know what questions to ask.
Most AFFF callers are veterans or career firefighters. They spent years doing a physically demanding, dangerous job. They were not told about PFAS risk. Many are dealing with a cancer diagnosis while also processing anger at an institution — the military, the manufacturer, a company they trusted — that did not protect them.
The tone on that first call matters. Clinical efficiency is appropriate. But whoever picks up the phone should acknowledge what the caller did for a living before moving into the checklist. “Thank you for your service” is not enough — specifically name what they did. “So you were a Marine Corps crash/fire/rescue firefighter for 12 years — that is exactly the background we work with in these cases.” That specificity builds trust and increases the chance they complete the intake instead of hanging up to call the next firm on their list.
These callers have often been through multiple firms already. They know when they are being processed versus when someone is actually listening. The firms that close the highest percentage of AFFF intakes are not the ones with the most sophisticated scripts — they are the ones where whoever picks up the phone makes the caller feel like their story matters before asking for their social security number.
Before this call leaves your hands, confirm you have collected or have authorization to collect the following:
If you have all of this, the attorney is walking into a pre-built case file. If you are missing three of these because the intake ended prematurely, the attorney spends the first 20 minutes of their review time chasing information that should have been collected on the first call.
The single biggest lever in AFFF intake conversion is not the qualifying criteria — it is what happens in the emotional middle of the call. The caller often has a cancer diagnosis that is still raw. They have a complicated relationship with the institution that exposed them. They may feel shame about needing help or anger that no one warned them.
The moment the person on the phone shifts from listening to rushing — because they have the basic facts and want to close the intake form — is when AFFF callers sense they are being processed. That is when they say “let me think about it” and call the next firm.
The intake coordinators who convert the most AFFF cases are not asking better questions. They are asking the same questions with better timing and better acknowledgment of what the caller is experiencing. That is a coachable skill. It requires real-time cues — knowing when to slow down, when the caller needs to hear “we see this a lot and we can help,” when to pause instead of jumping to the next field.
Most firms review calls after the fact. By then the lead is gone. The firms pulling ahead in AFFF intake conversion are the ones coaching in the moment.
Exposure established? Military firefighter, airport ARFF, industrial fire crew, or significant proximity to contaminated military installation — at least 1 year, peak era 1970-2010.
Qualifying cancer confirmed? Kidney, testicular, bladder, or thyroid cancer as first check. Prostate, breast, NHL as second check pending attorney review.
Diagnosis date documented? And SOL risk flagged if older than 4-5 years depending on state.
No competing retainer? Confirmed caller is not already signed with another firm on this claim.
Documentation authorization obtained? Medical records release signed or committed to.
If all five boxes are checked, you have a qualified AFFF plaintiff. Get the attorney on the phone or schedule the follow-up consultation before the caller hangs up. Every hour of delay is an opportunity for the next firm on their list to close the case you just built.
eNZeTi scores every sales call and coaches your reps in real time, so your manager knows exactly what to fix without sitting through hours of recordings.
Get Your Free Call Review →