A line of fire retardant foam is seen at Brunswick Landing Monday morning. The spill occurred around 5:30 a.m. Courtesy of Meghan KisslingFirefighting foam spilled at Brunswick Landing Monday morning amid ongoing concerns of PFAS and other chemical contamination prevention efforts at the former airbase.

Fire retardant foam seeps through a manhole cover near Brunswick Landing after a spill early Monday morning. Courtesy of Meghan Kissling

The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA) announced Monday  morning that a spill occurred around 5:30 a.m. at Hangar 4. Brunswick Fire Department and Maine Department of Environment Protection are assessing the situation.

A source close to Town Hall, who could only speak on background, said that town officials were made aware of the spill Monday morning, noting that the spill occurred in one of the hangers on the base, creating over 4 feet of foam and has since seeped into the stormwater system.

Around 11:30 a.m. Brunswick resident Meghan Kissling said that foam was seeping out of a manhole cover on a bike path that runs along Orion Street. She did not see any personnel working to contain the spill on the street.

“Because it was windy and rainy, the foam sprayed everywhere,”  Kissling said.

She said police tape, which is still present, cordoned off drainage systems that were leaking foam, and that more foam was seen at the airport gates.

“My understanding is that this was not the first time that this has happened, and I’m curious why it happened again,” Kissling said.

Around 1 p.m., trucks and crews from Clean Harbors were seen working on cleanup. A bystander, who declined to be named, said that she had been watching the area since about 12:45 p.m., and that the trucks had only just showed up.

A Clean Harbors worker declined to comment on the cleanup efforts, saying they were not allowed to talk to the press. One worker said that MRRA was the authority to speak with about the spill an asked a Times Record reporter to leave airport property where they were cleaning.

Brewing fears about contamination at Brunswick Landing

At-Large Councilor James Ecker has brought up concerns about PFAS contamination and spill prevention at the base in previous Town Council meetings, including the Aug. 5 session.

“This is exactly the kind of incident I’ve been concerned might happen,” he said.

David Page, a Bowdoin College chemistry professor, is Brunswick’s representative to the Restoration Advisory Board, which has been involved of cleaning up the former military base since 1995.

Page said that concerns of chemical spills have been raised numerous times to the town. Many of the foam systems inherited from the Navy are Cold War-era fire safety systems, which he described as “overkill” for a civilian airport.

The foam discharged at Hangar 4, which is designed to not burn in case of a fire, is known as “lightwater,” Page said, and contains PFOS – which he described as “the really bad stuff.”

PFOS (which is different from PFAS) is short for Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid and is a manmade chemical. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released toxicity reports on PFOS in April, declaring it an hazardous substance. Even low levels of exposure, Page said, can cause health problems.

Monday’s spill, he said, points to issues in management and communication and is a major environmental incident. When he drove around the spill site Monday morning, he could see globs of foam spreading with wind and rain, which he said could impact the nearby water treatment plant and stormwater retention ponds.

“MRRA, since taking over in 2011, has had three major spills of firefighting material,” Page said. He said that a spill in 2019 caused PFOS levels to spike in Picnic Pond, Mere Creek and also showed up in mussel samples in 2020. He added that Monday night’s spill will make levels spike again.

”There’s no reason in the world for that stuff to be there in the first place at this point in time,” Page said.

Building forever chemical concerns

The Restoration Advisory Board has called attention to environmental concerns in the previous years, such as PFAs and PFOS other forever chemical contaminations at the former base.

One review from May Noted that elevated levels of PFOS were founded in fish samples collected both on and off the base. The fish tissue gathered in the study showed levels that exceeded Maine’s Center for Disease Control and  Prevention meal safety level, which dictates fish is safe to it if falls below PFOS thresholds.

Samples also fell under the CDC’s “Do Not Eat” advisory requirements, which deems fish unsafe to eat if it cannot be safely eaten for at least three meals a year, or when PFOS levels are unsafe. The CDC has not yet issued a former advisory.

The Board pointed out PFAS contaminations migrating into public drinking water supplies in at the Jordan Avenue Well field in Brunswick. It also said that PFAS are moving through the water system.

The toxic chemicals pose a risk as they can enter the food chain through contaminated water or other materials, the Board said in its report. Fish, for instance, can consume contaminated materials and can then contaminate fish-loving birds, animals or humans.

The Times Record was unable to reach the MRRA for additional comment.

This story will be updated.