A Houston, Texas airport was transformed into what looked like a winter wonderland Thursday morning — thanks to an accidental release of firefighting foam.
The messy accident happened at the United Airlines hangar at George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 5:30 a.m., enveloping the building and surrounding parking lot in 30 feet of foam, officials said.
The foam looked almost indistinguishable from real snow — if it weren’t for the bare ground around it — in aerial footage of the hangar Thursday morning.
Older versions of firefighting foam are known to be toxic, with prolonged exposure linked to cancer.
But the foam sprayed from the United Airlines hangar is a newer type, PFAS-free and non-toxic, according to airport and officials.
“The good news is that this is a newer foam that’s PFAS-free, so it’s safer for the environment, and it shouldn’t cause cancer,” Michael Mire, chief of operations for the Houston Fire Department, told Fox26 Houston.
The foamy mess was created when fire-fighting foam was accidentally released from the United Airlines hangar at George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 5:30 a.m. KTRK The foam sprayed from the United Airlines hangar was a newer type, PFAS-free and non-toxic, according to airport and officials. KTRK
But accidental spraying still creates a huge mess. An environmental team with United Airlines led the site cleanup with support from the Houston Fire Department, Houston Airport and Houston Public Works.
The cleanup took several hours as workers in Hazmat suits sprayed a special solution to dissolve the foam.
“Because of its high expansion nature, it is 30 feet tall. So the stop sign behind us was covered with foam, all the vehicles were also covered,” Mire told the local station while showing the stop sign on camera.
The cleanup fortunately did not affect travelers flying in and out of Bush Airport.
The cleanup took several hours as workers in Hazmat suits sprayed a special solution to dissolve the foam. KTRK The frothy mess looks almost indistinguishable from real snow in aerial footage of the hangar Thursday morning. KTRK
It’s unclear how the foam was “accidentally released,” but no people or planes were in the hangar at the time, Houston Airports said.
The Houston Fire Department said it will continue to monitor the environmental impact of the accidental spill.
“This is a new product to the industry so we’ll see what the results are in 20 years,” Mire said.
Hazmat officials are working with the Coast Guard and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to monitor nearby waterways, Fox26 reported.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
