According to incident reports obtained by CBC News, the St. John’s Regional Fire Department faced challenges in accessing firefighting foam during two significant fires in the past year. Specifically, firefighters responding to a residential fire in Paradise noted that three vehicles had issues with their foam systems, which are crucial for fire suppression.
This was not an isolated incident, as a previous occurrence involved a truck arriving at a fire scene without any available foam to combat a fire at the Town of Paradise depot in February.
These incidents followed an internal audit on the fire department’s mechanical division to assess the condition of its fleet.
Despite the setbacks, the fire chief emphasized that firefighting foam is just one of many tools available to firefighters and assured ongoing efforts to enhance equipment maintenance.
One of the incidents took place on June 14 on Willow Drive in Paradise, where firefighters were confronted with a substantial fire that engulfed two homes and a pickup truck.
The incident report highlighted the urgent need for firefighting foam to suppress the fire effectively, but due to malfunctions in multiple trucks’ foam systems, alternative measures had to be taken to combat the blaze.
Firefighters managed to contain the fire using a fourth apparatus after encountering issues with the foam systems of the initial vehicles.
The St. John’s Regional Fire Department faced challenges in accessing firefighting foam during significant fires, prompting concerns about operational effectiveness. Ariana Kelland from CBC News provides insights into these incidents.
The report stressed the critical role of foam in firefighting scenarios involving flammable materials, citing its ability to create a barrier that hinders the fire’s progression and risk of rekindling.
Scott Tilley, a veteran fire consultant and former member of the St. John’s Regional Fire Department, underscored the importance of foam in
