Crews Spray Jet Fuel During Wash. ARFF Drill

Dec. 16, 2013
A crash truck started spraying what firefighters believed was water when a large fireball erupted.

Officials opened an investigation after firefighters sprayed jet fuel onto a burning prop in Washington in October. Two firefighters received minor burns during the incident.

As it approached a burning prop, a Port of Seattle crash truck started spraying what firefighters believed was water, according to to a video obtained by KING 5 TV. It caused a large fireball to erupt from the training pad at the Washington State Patrol's North Bend facility. 

“When the firefighters put water on a fire that had been deliberately developed for training the fire got bigger instead of smaller,” Washington State Patrol Investigator Bob Calkins told KING 5.

See the video here

The equipment at the North Bend facility that is used to separate water and oil did not work properly and the firefighters filled the apparatus with the tainted liquid, the probe showed.

Officials are continuing the investigation.

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