CENTENNIAL, Colo. — South Metro Fire Rescue has a new tool to help keep firefighters and residents safe while fighting fires. They said they are one of the first fire departments in the country to make the change to a new firefighting foam they’ll use for airplane crashes, whether it’s at an airport or not.
To date, SMFR has spent $107,000 on the new foam. To completely make the switch, it could be well over $200,000. A few years ago, firefighters across the country realized there were cancer-causing ingredients in the old foam they were using; however, there were no alternatives for it.
South Metro Fire teamed up with Centennial Airport and looked to bigger airports like Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for inspiration. SMFR firefighters have been trained how to use the new foam. That was eight hours of training for each of them.
Right now, two of their response trucks have the new foam. “The biggest thing I am excited about is we have fluorine-free foam in our apparatus,” said Division Chief Scott Richardson. “So that if we have airplane crashes on airport or off airport, we can flow that foam, protect the people that are inside, and extricate our victims from a plane crash without having to worry about causing a huge hazardous materials cleanup.
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