See the Freak 'Foamnado' That Formed After Fire Suppression System Accidentally Deployed in Military Hangar

The Oklahoma National Guard had its first-ever foam party Tuesday, but for all the wrong reasons.

Image source: Oklahoma National Guard

Fires in the workplace are dangerous in general. And mechanical fires around multi-million dollar aircraft? Potentially a catastrophic nightmare.

To avoid this potential disaster, many civilian and military aviation hangar operators will install what's called a fire suppression system, which can release thousands of pounds of suds to douse the helicopters or jets and the surrounding equipment faster than a fire could spread.

That means when the system deploys, within mere seconds, anything and everything within hundreds of feet is buried in several feet of foam.

Even if it's set off by accident.

Tuesday morning, a contractor working on the newly installed fire suppression system accidentally set off the emergency response, sending thousands of gallons of foam into the work area and spilling onto the ramp -- almost completely covering the 16-foot tall helicopters, according to KWTV-TV.

The black image that can barely be seen along the center of the tree line is one of the ten UH-60 Blackhawks covered in foam on Tuesday's accidental fire suppression deployment. (Image source: Oklahoma National Guard)

Coincidentally, high winds whipped onto the air field as the foam began to settle, and a "foamnado" kicked the suds into the air.

Image source: KWTV

Image source: KWTV

No one was injured and the foam was all cleaned up, Col. Max Moss, Oklahoma National Guard Public Affairs Officer told TheBlaze.

"If properly handled, the foam that is deployed is safe for humans and isn't an environmental hazard," he said.

Moss also said six of the 10 aircraft are back to operational status, while the remaining four were still undergoing inspections for potential damage.

Check out the video below, which has some of the security camera footage of the foam release:

(H/T: TheVane)

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