Officials in Ohio are continuing their investigation into the cause of a fatal accidental hangar foam discharge at Wilmington Air Park (KILN).

On Sunday, Aug, 7 at around 1:45 pm, the foam fire suppression system in a large commercial aircraft maintenance hangar operated by Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services, part of the MRO’s 315,000 sq ft of hangar space at KILN, discharged, trapping five people in a vehicle at the entrance of the hangar and leaving one person inside unaccounted for.  

The workers in the vehicle were rescued by the many fire and emergency units that responded to the call, but two firefighters ran out of air amidst the blinding foam inside Hangar 1006 and had to be rescued themselves. Eight firefighters were injured in the incident, some of whom were taken to local hospitals and released after treatment.

The deceased man was recovered four hours later after responders used fire hoses to knock down the 20-foot-high foam and flush it out of the hangar, said Wilmington Fire Chief Andy Mason. He told AIN that the man was originally in an office inside the hangar when the discharge occurred and was instructed through phone and text contact from coworkers to remain there with the door closed. It is unclear why he left the protection of the office. Coworkers kicked a hole in the side of the hangar to free him from the office, but the man had already attempted to escape through the foam-filled hangar. The victim, whose cause of death has not yet been determined, was a 55-year-old Airborne Maintenance area supervisor who had been employed by the company for more than a year. His is believed to be the first civilian fatality caused due to a hangar foam discharge, following a military-related death in 2014.

A spokesperson for parent company Air Transport Services Group confirmed to AIN that fire was not the cause of the discharge and that maintenance work was being conducted at the time of the malfunction. According to Mason, there were two airliner class aircraft present in the hangar, and its foam protection system had been inspected just last month.

NATA spearheaded the campaign to have the requirement for foam fire suppression systems lessened for Group 2 business aviation-type hangars, where hazardous activities such as maintenance and fueling did not take place. However, an airliner-size hangar such as 1006 would fall under the Group 1 category, which under the current National Fire Protection Association guidance would still require foam suppression protection.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2022-08-17/investigation-ohio-hangar-foam-fatality-continues

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