Crime & Safety

Crews Get Refresher Class on Fighting Fire with Foam

Firefighters from Bridgeville, Presto, Upper St. Clair and Moon Township just finished a class on how to use a specialized foam for chemical fires.

The parking lot at the was filled with suds Sunday afternoon as firefighters there took a refresher course on using foam to fight chemical fires.

Firefighters from Bridgeville, Presto, Upper St. Clair and Moon Township finished their 16-hour refresher course on the “Class B” foam that is used for chemical fires that typically come from car crashes, train derailments or industrial accidents.

The three South Hills departments, including Upper St. Clair, have shared a trailer packed with the foam for several years, and Bridgeville fire Chief Bill Chilleo said it was about time to be recertified.

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“When you don’t play with something enough, you tend to forget,” he said.

Moon also participated because it houses one of four regional foam trailers shared by other fire departments in Allegheny County.

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State fire instructors Nelson Miller and Dave Supko conducted the training session, which was held over a couple nights recently before finishing with an eight-hour session Sunday. The crews had demonstrations in the fire hall’s Chartiers Room before moving out to the parking lot in the afternoon to put their training into action.

The crews used different formulas, pressure and nozzles to make the foam perform in different ways that might be found at a fire scene.


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