Fatal Fire Suppression Foam Accident, Ohio, 8/7

Well that's something I'd never even thought to be scared of
 
I knew it was suspected by some of being a cancer risk but immediate toxic effects??
And, it says some suffered electric shocks? That seems weird.
 
Several years ago I was a subcontractor on a USAF fighter hangar that had a foam fire suppression system. They had an accidental foam release with an F-15 in the hangar. The system was very impressive. It produced 30’ of foam in under a minute. Yes, 30’. The F-15 was badly damaged. It was a really big deal. I wouldn't want to be in there when the foam generator went active.
 
Yeah, I remember when they installed the shiny new fire suppression in our data center a few decades ago. There were warning signs all over saying we had 1 minute to evacuate if it went off due to lack of oxygen. But it got worse a few years later when they moved some of our offices into the area. I quit that job shortly after that.
 
Some of that stuff is is exothermic too. Nothing like being covered with burning hot, sticky, foam.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I knew it was suspected by some of being a cancer risk but immediate toxic effects??
And, it says some suffered electric shocks? That seems weird.
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Electrical shock is a possibility. The #1 component of the foam is water. I doubt the deaths or injuries were from toxicity, probably the electrical shock and/or suffocation/drowning.

Salty said:
Yeah, I remember when they installed the shiny new fire suppression in our data center a few decades ago. There were warning signs all over saying we had 1 minute to evacuate if it went off due to lack of oxygen. But it got worse a few years later when they moved some of our offices into the area. I quit that job shortly after that.
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Data centers are usually protected by a Halon or other derivative clean agent. Basically a gas that displaces the oxygen snuffing the fire, and any living organism in the space. Extinguishes the fire without any residue or other damage.

I've heard rumors in the industry that there may be a move coming from the insurance industry to eliminate the foam protection systems from the fire code of hangars. Anecdotally, and I'd be happy to be proven wrong, I don't believe there has ever been an actual hangar fire stopped by such a system. Yet these systems have caused untold millions of dollars in damage due to accidental discharge, and now at least one fatality.

As a firefighter I see the risk and the fire load in an aircraft hangar, but the risk/reward of these systems doesn't appear to be there. Most of the hangar fires I read about involve small GA type hangars, such as T-hangars, which are not served by such systems. Most large commercial type hangars are usually kept pretty clean, and standard operating practices tend to prevent fires. While the fuel can provide a large fire load, ignition sources are few and far between.
 
AFFF in a hangar is no joke. The pic below is from a shared hangar in Tulsa. The system suffered an uncommanded discharge with the hangar doors closed.

The foam dumps in huge quantities from the black chutes you see in the ceiling.
efe9115e8a0c8d366b4f48d7aa4ae2ce.jpg
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I knew it was suspected by some of being a cancer risk but immediate toxic effects??
And, it says some suffered electric shocks? That seems weird.
Click to expand...
There have been a bunch of copper thefts, could have been something like that, and set off the foam. Hopefully they'll clue us in.
 
I've heard of multiple inadvertent fire suppression system activations, but I've never heard of one actually stopping a fire.
 
They purposefully tripped the one at APG when I was there. They had moved everything (and everyone) out of the hangar. As they were wondering how long it was going to take to clear out having opened doors at both sides, someone decided to get the great idea to drive a (government) pickup through it. That didn't work well. They eventually backed a King Air or something to the door and blew things out the other side.
 
Salty said:
Yeah, I remember when they installed the shiny new fire suppression in our data center a few decades ago. There were warning signs all over saying we had 1 minute to evacuate if it went off due to lack of oxygen. But it got worse a few years later when they moved some of our offices into the area. I quit that job shortly after that.
Click to expand...

That almost sounds like a system that would be illegal when the ADA gets tossed in the mix.
 
bnt83 said:
That almost sounds like a system that would be illegal when the ADA gets tossed in the mix.
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I'm pretty confident a call to OSHA would have created quite the stir, but I'm more of a tell them "this is a bad idea" and then find a better situation if they're unwilling to deal with it, kind of guy.
 
Salty said:
Yeah, I remember when they installed the shiny new fire suppression in our data center a few decades ago. There were warning signs all over saying we had 1 minute to evacuate if it went off due to lack of oxygen. But it got worse a few years later when they moved some of our offices into the area. I quit that job shortly after that.
Click to expand...
Much hyped bullpoop. Halon dump systems don't displace the oxygen. It's the same reason why we are still authorized to use halon extinguishers in the cockpits. While there might be some pockets of higher concentration stuff in the room, it's going to (by design) difuse pretty quickly. You can breath it. What you don't want to breath is the fumes from whatever started the fire to begin with. Computers are full of noxious stuff when burned.

The funniest story (and this was way back in the day), was that after a halon dump, there was enough of it still lingering in the adjacent offices at our facility to keep people from being able to light their cigarettes.
 
The fatality was the best friend of my supervisor--they served together in the Army. Don't have any details as to what happened other than there were 3 people in the hangar at the time the fire suppression system activated and the other 2 were able to climb into a nearby vehicle until they were rescued.
 
I live here in Wilmington... Bad situation all around. 8 firemen injured, a rescue response from a 4 county area in all. That was by far the newest hangar at ILN, built after the DHL pull out as a maintenance facility. Often "The big 3" and others have planes parked out in front.

Then adding to the issues for the responders locally, the Cincinnati FBI attempted break in that led to a standoff, the standoff was here too 4 days later, some of the same shorthanded departments dealing with that. For a rural small community, a very tough strange week for the first responders here.
 
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