In what is good news for the Vermont Fire Academy in Pittsford, state tests for a toxic chemical in water sources on and around the site have come up with no detectable levels.
Gov. Peter Shumlin says the academy was selected for tests because firefighting foams had been used in training exercises there that may have contained perfluorocarbons like PFOA and PFOS.
PFOA has been discovered around former industrial sites in North Bennington and Pownal, and the state has been testing for the chemical, which has been linked to cancer, at other locations.
The state checked residential wells and a town water line near the academy.
Tests surrounding the former Phoenix Wire facility in South Hero also recently turned out negative for PFOA.
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