The No. 1 cause of firefighter deaths may be surprising. It isn’t occupation-related danger; it’s cancer. Firefighters have double the risk for certain types of cancer, and a higher percentage for many others. This stems from their usage of foam-based products to curb fire spread. The most common foam used in the industry is loaded with PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”
Minnesota soybeans are playing a part in the solution. A new initiative by Dave Garlie of Cross Plains Solutions, made possible through soy checkoff investments, is working to create a safer alternative. SoyFoam is created using soy flour and can provide the same coverage as traditional foams.
“There are nine required burns, and SoyFoam can put out all nine burns,” Garlie said[DL1] , when discussing all the federal regulations he has been working with.
Garlie helped lead a learning session during the 2025 MN Ag Expo.
“Awareness is where you start building change,” Garlie said during the panel moderated by Mark Dorenkamp of Brownfield Ag News.
SoyFoam is currently the only firefighting foam in the world that is GreenScreen Certified Gold, a third-party product certification that bases their certification on a product’s health and environmental hazards.

Garlie was joined by John Hejl, a North Dakota firefighter and farmer. Hejl used SoyFoam on some test fires with his team and was impressed with the products to plug into their current systems.
“It was fantastic to use a firefighting foam where I wasn’t concerned about people standing in people’s yards.” Heil said. “It works in every system we’ve put it in so far.”
The session was sponsored by the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC). Dumont farmer Tom Frisch, who chairs MSR&PC, is a longtime firefighter. During his panel intro, Frisch said the checkoff’s support of SoyFoam offers multiple benefits.
“Your checkoff investment is helping out the environment and the firefighters who use it,” said Frisch, who has served on the Dumont Fire Department since 2000. “It’s a checkoff investment that is coming to fruition and helping build demand.”
Garlie is working with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Forestry Department so SoyFoam can be approved nationwide. The product has passed Underwriter’s Laboratory standard, which is one level of safety checks for products such as these. It is currently being reformulated to fit the government viscosity requirements to move forward in the approval process.
Later this year, MSR&PC is unveiling a county-level program to distribute five-gallon buckets of SoyFoam to fire departments across Minnesota.