From: DeSmogBlog
Just as you aren’t supposed to try to put out an oil fire in your
kitchen with water, you aren’t supposed to try to put out a crude oil
fire with water either. But in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that is all
firefighters had for the first two days of battling the catastrophic
oil-by-rail fire last July.
The fire burned until 8,000 gallons of firefighting foam finally
arrived from Toronto, an eight-hour drive away. Forty-seven people were
killed in the accident.
This lack of foam not only makes the job of first responders impossible
when fighting these crude oil fires — it also greatly increases the
environmental damage. While the Lac-Megantic firefighters were using
water, they were helping the oil flow into the nearby lake and river.
One and a half million gallons of oil were spilled.
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