[CPEO-MEF] PFAS, GLOBAL: Report on foam release at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Marine Corps releases report on circumstances surrounding the activation and release of fire suppression system in Hangar 539 at Air Station Futenma
FOIA results detail a comedy of errors following the April 10, 2020 accident

By Pat Elder 
Military Poisons
December 20, 2021

Firefighting foam spill -  large amount still scattered overnight

(The Red Hill fuel spill in Hawaii was initially caused by a leak in the facility’s AFFF fire suppression system, drawing public attention to the likelihood of these carcinogenic foam dispensing systems to malfunction. Last year’s massive suppression system release of carcinogenic foam at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa provides insight into the environmental terrorism inherent in these systems.)

Military Poisons has received the results of a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the command investigation into circumstances surrounding the activation and release of the fire suppression system in Hangar 539 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa on April 10, 2020. It took them 17 months to respond.

The U.S. Marines play the fool in this tragicomedy of catastrophic and amusing elements. 

On April 10, 2020 at 4:34 pm, U.S. Marines, who were sequestered in Hangar 539 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, lit a barbeque using charcoal and lighter fluid. The barbecue grill was on the flight line,10-20 feet west of the open hangar. The USO had supplied hot dogs and hamburgers to boost morale.  

The fire detection and aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) fire suppression system went off the second the charcoal was ignited. AFFF contains carcinogenic per- and poly fluoroalkyl substances, PFAS.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/marine-corps-releases-report-on-circumstances-surrounding-the-activation-and-release-of-fire-suppression-system-in-hangar-539-at-air-station-futenma

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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