Incident Report

Subject:           US - OSHA investigate fatal fixed fire-fighting foam discharge at Elgin Air Force Base

Date of Email report:   Wed 15/01/2014

Report Detail:

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the tragic incident that killed one man and injured three other people in King Hangar on Wednesday.  Jonathan Lord of Valparaiso died after a large amount of fire-fighting foam was released into the hangar. He had worked as a contractor at Eglin Air Force Base since 2006. The 31-year-old left behind a wife, Tara, and a young daughter.  Lord and the three people who were injured were working for Defense Support Services (DS2). The company provides equipment and facilities support for the Department of Defense. 

Lord was working as a tools-and-parts attendant, Eglin reported. The fire suppression system in the 90,000-square-foot maintenance hangar has 24 foam generators that hang from the ceiling. After the accident, the hangar was filled with foam, Eglin spokeswoman Lois Walsh said. A similar incident in King Hangar in 2012 resulted in foam 10 to 12 feet deep. No one was hurt. 

On Thursday, investigators still had not been definitively determined what caused the foam to release, said Chrissy Cuttita, another Eglin spokeswoman. She declined to say whether the release was intentional or accidental. Investigators also had not determined if the unusually cold weather was a factor, Walsh said. The cause of Lord’s death has not been released. The three injured contractors were treated for inhalation problems and released shortly after the incident. They have not been identified. A member of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Jacksonville was at Eglin on Thursday, said Jeff Romeo, an OSHA spokesman.

Warning signs about the foam are supposed to be placed in hangars on the base, he said. “We will definitely be looking into what warnings were there, what type of notification they had and what training they had at that site,” Romeo said. Eglin officials described the foam as similar to soap or dish detergent, but have not released the name of the substance. Two operational F-15s were in the hangar when the foam was released, as were a non-operational F-15, F-16 and A-10 used for educational purposes, according to Eglin. The base has not said whether the aircraft were damaged. Romeo said his OSHA office never has investigated a death like Wednesday’s. “We may have to go to the manufacturer to find out how the system works,” he said. He said the investigation could take up to six months. 

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