Firefighters mistakenly battle blaze with jet fuel instead of water

Washington State authorities are investigating an incident that happened at the fire training academy in North Bend on Oct. 25 when firefighters sprayed jet fuel instead of water on a fake airplane crash.

The massive mistake caused a huge fireball that left two firefighters with minor burns.

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

The cause of the mistake may have had something to do with the academy’s oil/water separator. The device, which recycles the water used that’s used in training exercises, may have not properly filtered the jet fuel from the water that was used in previous training sessions.

According to Caskins, an expert is being brought in to investigate whether the separator malfunctioned or if the device was incorrectly used by academy employees.

[King 5]