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Friday, June 21, 2024 at 12:51 PM
The foam, which is frequently used by the military, contains toxic chemicals including PFAS.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Authorities say a malfunctioning fire suppression system led to the release of hundreds of gallons of fire-fighting foam at the Vermont National Guard base in South Burlington Thursday night.
Vermont National Guard officials say about 800 gallons of the concentrated aqueous film-forming foam was released into a building and that they are working with a contractor to clean up the spill. They say no one was in the building at the time.
The foam, which is frequently used by the military to fight flammable liquid fires, contains toxic chemicals -- including PFAS -- that can cause serious health problems, including cancer, according to the EPA.
Officials at the South Burlington wastewater treatment plant say the foam ended up leaking into the drainage system, which will eventually get to their facility. “It goes into the pump station where it will then sit there. And when it gets high enough level, we’ll pump it eventually up to here, and then like I said it takes quite some time to get through and we’ll try to capture as much as we humanly can,” said the plant’s Bob Fischer. He says he’s confident the spill will not have an impact on the city’s drinking water.
While the state of Vermont in recent years has worked to phase out the use of the toxic firefighting foam, it is still used by the military because of its effectiveness in rapidly putting out fires.
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