Story ID: 
Hangar Foam Discharges Still an Industry Problem
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: An FBO at Florida's Palm Beach International Airport was the latest to suffer an accidental fire foam discharge.
Word Count: 189
On July 7, Signature Flight Support suffered an accidental fire foam discharge in one of its hangars at its Palm Beach International Airport FBO in Florida. According to the company, the incident occurred around 8:30 a.m. Local fire officials arriving on the scene quickly determined there was no actual fire.
In a statement, Signature said, “The material was largely contained to our location. We were in communication with the appropriate authorities, including Florida regulators, and worked diligently to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.” A company spokesperson told AIN that while three aircraft in the 30,000-sq-ft hangar were affected, there was no significant impact on its base operations. Clean-up was delayed by inclement weather in the area over the weekend but completed by Sunday, July 9.
According to a study commissioned by the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) from the University of Maryland’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering, since 2004 there have been at least 137 inadvertent hangar foam discharges—an average of one every six weeks. NATA estimates the overall clean-up and aircraft damage costs of those events at between $64 million and $235 million.