LYNNWOOD — Firefighters doing maintenance work at Lynnwood’s Station 14 atop the Blue Ridge community soon found out the concentrated fire fighting foam they cleaned out of their engine’s tank Friday, March 5 had become a giant bubble bath for those downstream in Edmonds.
Inquiries are still being done by officials from Edmonds and the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to see whether Lynnwood will be fined for the discharge.
“We found that the foam in the tank wasn’t operational so the tank was flushed with fresh water,” said Lynnwood Fire Chief Gary Olson. “They were doing good maintenance.”
Not long after the procedure, calls started coming into SNOCOM, 911 dispatch from Edmonds residents reporting bubbles coming out of storm drains in the city and in Perrinville Creek.
Larry Altose, DOE spokesman, said state officials requested the fire department hire an outside contractor to vacuum out the drains. He said they did and DOE officials are satisfied with the cleanup efforts, but they’re still following up to determine whether the city will be fined.
Altose said DOE officials didn’t see any sign that there had been damage to the environment but it doesn’t mean none occurred.
“Any artificially introduced substance into the environment can have an effect on life in it,” he said.
The foam, called aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), extinguishes fires by taking away the oxygen. The foam’s properties could be a problem for fish in the creek as well, Altose said.
“The foam is non-toxic for industrial purposes, but if enough of it gets in there and depending on the time of year, it could be bad for the fish and other life,” he said. “But we didn’t observe any signs of this and we will continue to follow up on it.”
Altose said the foam does get into the environment after being used on a fire but this is a different situation.
Altose said DOE has had good cooperation from both cities.
Tod Moles, who maintains the storm drains in Edmonds, said city officials are also looking into the possibility of a fine for Lynnwood.
Edmonds has recently enacted a discharge ordinance aimed at those who intentionally pollute waterways, Moles said. “It’s so we can cite monetarily those who should know better,” he said.
As far as Edmonds’ part in the cleanup, Moles said, “There’s nothing we can do, just let it take its course.”
Moles said that four days after the discharge, Tuesday, March 9, foam had resurfaced in the waterways.
“The rain … must have reagitated it,” he said.
Altose said, “It is clear that it was an unintentional release and they didn’t want to damage the environment. We’ll continue to look into it and we will work with the fire departments to make sure that the tanks aren’t rinsed in that way.”
Chief Olson said that immediately after the event, the tank flushing policy for the Lynnwood Fire Department changed.
“From now on, we will be changing out our foam tanks in a decanting area in the city’s public works area,” he said.
Altose said Lynnwood’s new policy “is great and good news.”
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