Tag Archives: firefighting

Tank fire shortage of toxic PFAS firefighting foam at Houston Ship Channel

This “special foam”: yes, it’s probably the same toxic PFAS chemicals spilled at the Ocala, FL firefighting school and at Moody AFB near Valdosta, GA. Massive ammounts of it were used at the ITC tank farm, with its own docks on Buffalo Bayou into Burnet Bay, leading to Galveston and the Gulf. Then a massive storm hit, closing that Houston Ship Channel and stopping cleanup operations. It’s so bad even the state of Texas and Harris County are suing ITC. Meanwhile, whoever heard of a solar farm fire?

Photo: Click2Houston, 19 March 2019, Fire Grows
Photo: Click2Houston, 19 March 2019, “Fire Grows”.

Firefighters at Houston Chemical Disaster Scrambled for Foam, by Joe Carroll and Kevin Crowley, Bloomberg, March 29, 2019, 12:10 PM EDT Updated on March 29, 2019, 3:18 PM EDT,

Firefighters confronted with the worst Gulf Coast industrial disaster in 14 years had to call on outside sources to augment their supply of the special foam required to extinguish chemical blazes.

Intercontinental Terminal Co. confirmed it appealed to other companies for foam during the fire Continue reading →

Health costs of firefighting foams

It’s time for the state of Georgia and the U.S. Congress to set limits, and appropriate funds for testing and remedial actions, as the evidence and lawsuits pile up about those firefighting chemicals spilled from Moody AFB and many other places.

What is the price of fire safety? As lawsuits pile up and government pressure rises, firefighting-foam makers reconsider the environmental cost of fluorosurfactants, by Marc S. Reisch, Chemical and Engineering News (c&en), JANUARY 14, 2019 | APPEARED IN VOLUME 97, ISSUE

Photo: Large Atmospheric Storage Tank Fires project; Firefighters spray fluorine-free foam on a hydrocarbon test fire at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
Photo: Large Atmospheric Storage Tank Fires project
Firefighters spray fluorine-free foam on a hydrocarbon test fire at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

Testifying to Congress in September 2018 before it passed the legislation allowing civilian airports to use fluorine-free foams, Timothy Putnam, a 24-year civilian firefighter for the navy, said he recalled using fluorine-containing foam—in the days before scientists raised safety flags—“as a substitute for vehicle soap to wash fire department vehicles. We also used [it] to clean the fire station floors.”

Now, Putnam said, he is worried about “human impacts” of the exposure. And he didn’t accept the argument that Continue reading →