The Cellar - 4/12/2006: Ellsworth AFB foam test

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- - 4/12/2006: Ellsworth AFB foam test (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=10491)

Cool.
Reminds me of soaping the fountains in my hometown. We only wished for this much foam.

Also: AMEN ON THE BANDWIDTH. I love it!

Kind of made me think of Lawrence Welk. "An a wun an a two an a tree..." :lol:

Wonder how they managed to clean up the mess?

They're lucky they didn't drown.

Very cool pics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dar512

Wouldn't you think there would be a manual shutoff valve somewhere? How long before this finally got shut down?

It ran out after about 18 minutes of bubbly goodness. :rolleyes:

Quote:

It ran out after about 18 minutes of bubbly goodness.

You mean bubbly hell on earth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitsune

It doesn't show signs of stopping, and I've bought some corn for popping...

Yes...it DOES look like snow !!!

Reminds me of an old Rolling Stones video where the band disappears in foam.

You would prolly be very uncomfortable but I really don't think you'd drown. Although if you are like me and are claustrophobic, you could die from a panic attack.

shiv, you sound like you're familiar with snow, and I'm sure canuck49 is.
Welcome to the Cellar, both of you. :D

Guess what folks? :D I was watching the referrers on this one, and someone had the full story.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123019117

Quote:

Did a glacier melt? Did some kind of ultra-secret government underground lab have a freak accident? Most importantly, which maintenance troop’s head rolled for this one?

Actually, it’s none of the above. Those who have seen the e-mail that seems to be burning up the communication lines across the Department of Defense need to brace themselves: That hangar at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., was filled with foam on purpose.

That misleading e-mail with an attached slide presentation showing photos of the test has caused considerable work in correcting wrong information.
...
The test of the new foam system was conducted Aug. 23. Required coverage occurred within one minute of the system being activated. The test was so successful, the foam reached the observation platform where officials were documenting the procedure.
The Air Force required a minimum of one meter of foam to be achieved in four minutes or less. For testing purposes, the foam was allowed to disperse for the full four minutes.

The observers were surprised at how quickly the system generated the fire suppressing foam, Colonel Singh said.

The system worked so well the exterior door of the hangar had to be opened before the test was fully completed. These events account for the photos of the amount of foam inside and outside of the hangar.

So, did someone have a gross miscue? No. On the contrary, a fire suppression system responsible for helping protect vital mission-essential assets and, most importantly, for helping safeguard Airmen’s lives, worked extremely well. The foam system exceeded Air Force standards, Colonel Singh said.

The article goes on to say that the images testing the ability of systems to handle overload as the images are emailed around.

I guess we learned that as well!

Sorry for anyone who was misled, although that number includes B and myself. The original images that were sent around had some misleading text on them that indicated that everything was unexpected. At least the record is corrected now!

Is this stuff non-toxic/environmentally friendly/naturally dissipiates?

Misled? That's what they want you to believe :worried:

Quote:

The test was so successful, the foam reached the observation platform where officials were documenting the procedure.
The Air Force required a minimum of one meter of foam to be achieved in four minutes or less. For testing purposes, the foam was allowed to disperse for the full four minutes.

The observers were surprised at how quickly the system generated the fire suppressing foam, Colonel Singh said.

The system worked so well the exterior door of the hangar had to be opened before the test was fully completed. These events account for the photos of the amount of foam inside and outside of the hangar.

OK, so the timeline was wrong and the system did not fail to shut off when it should. That's good news.
BUT;
1- It did not perform as expected.
2- The fact it performed better than expected still means they were wrong.
3- It caught everyone involved, off guard.
4- To fill the hangar and coat the countryside was not planned
5- It's funny as hell.

Of course, as Master Sgt. Dana Rogers said, all that emailing does more damage than the excess foam so, no harm, no foul.
Just Easter egg on their faces. :lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashke

Haaaahhahah... that's hilarious. I wonder how they'd clean it up though.

Soap and water?

Welcome to the Cellar, mtspace. :D
Is that true?