ROCKTOW, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - A chemical-based foam that many in Congress want banned was used to fight a fire that burned and blazed for two days earlier this week in Illinois.
The foam used to douse the fire at the Chemtool lubricant manufacturing facility in Rocktow contained a chemical of a type - per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - that legislators want banned at the national and state level, including Illinois.
PFAS have been used in firefighting foam and consumer products like non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing. They have been dubbed "forever chemicals" because they don’t leave the human body once they make it in.
Trzupek
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the foam used in the Chemtool fire contained a compound known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
A private fire fighting firm from Louisiana hired to tackle the blaze used foam that may have contained "chemicals of concerns," the EPA said. Crews fighting the blaze then switched to use a different type of foam, one of several that does not contain any members of the PFAS family.
Illinois has moved to ban the use of PFAS-based or blended foam, of which PFOA is part of the family, to fight fires, with legislation on the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker.
Supporters of a ban on their use believe they are dangerous particularly when they manage to percolate into drinking water. Various pieces of legislation have been passed in the U.S. Congress relating to the chemicals, but no outright ban.
Rich Trzupek, a manufacturing and environmental expert with Illinois-based Trinity Consultants, said the PFAS-foam, commonly known as AFFF, is particularly good at fighting fires involving chemicals or oil, both of which were present at the Rockton facility.
They are very stable and excellent at starving a fire of oxygen, said Trzupek, a chemist. But its benefits to fighting fires, and stability, also makes it "problematic" as it does not break down, he added.
But "I think there has been overkill and over reaction" to its use, Trzupek told Legal Newsline.
It should not be used near a river or water table, he said, but added there is no reason why it cannot be used at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, for example, far away from any drinking source.
Rock River runs close to the Chemtool plant but does not provide drinking water for nearby communities, though it does get into the system down river.
EPA officials said there there is no evidence that the “fluorinated foam” reached the Rock River, but tests are planned.
“Visual inspections do not indicate any impacts to Rock River at this time,” the EPA said in a statement.
“Rock River does not serve as a drinking water source for Rockton and surrounding communities, and IEPA is conducting additional testing of the community water supply to ensure there was no contamination from the fire.”