1,600 Gallons of Toxic Firefighting Foam Spilled in Maine

More than 1,600 gallons of firefighting foam were discharged by a malfunctioning fire suppression system at the Brunswick Executive Airport, formerly the Brunswick Naval Air Station, in Maine on Monday.

According to WBUR, the foam was released in an airport hangar by a malfunctioning system early on Monday. After it discharged, the foam ran off into local sewer and storm water drains. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is now working to clean up the foam pollution.

“There was a large black outlet pipe, just discharging, pumping, basically foam out in the downstream side of the pond,” Steve Walker, director of the Brunswick-Topsham Landtrust that owns a nature preserve next to the airport, told Maine Public. “So the entire stream bed was covered in this thick foam, getting up into the tree branches. It was so, so high. And then later this afternoon, as the wind started kicking in, the stuff went airborne.”

The released foam, known as Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), contains per-and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, for smothering flames, particularly in fuel fires. In 2021, Maine restricted the use of AFFF based on environmental and public health concerns over the PFAS in this type of foam.

The state’s government website includes a list of several potential health impacts of PFAS, including decreased fertility, increased blood pressure in pregnant people, reduced ability of the immune system to fight infections, low birth weight and increased risk of certain types of cancers.

Not only do PFAS bring up several concerns for human health and risks to the environment, but these compounds, also known as forever chemicals, are difficult to break down and can remain in the environment for long periods of time.

“To me, the bigger concern is not the immediate cleanup, but the fact that this is going to add to the already not insignificant amount of PFAs and other dangerous chemicals that are in the soils and the waters,” Matthew Klingle, environmental historian at Bowdoin College, told Maine Public.

As explained on the Maine Department of Environmental Protection website, common methods of removing PFAS from water include adsorption or reverse osmosis technologies.

“We take this situation very seriously and are committed to addressing the cleanup with the utmost urgency and transparency,” Kristine Logan, executive director of Maine Regional Redevelopment Authority, told The Associated Press.

Cleanup efforts are ongoing, and the cause of the malfunction that led to the discharged foam is under investigation.