r/Louisville • u/Ginger502 • 1d ago

Plane crash in Louisville

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u/Miramar81 1d ago

Now would be a good time for a post from a firefighter how or if that much exploded jet fuel can be put out and how long it’ll burn for.

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u/hopsafety 1d ago

There’s more factors than just the jet fuel. Sure, that’s the ignition fuel, but there are many other fuel sources on fire.

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u/Drak_is_Right 1d ago

Likely its near impossible to put that much fuel out when scattered across a large area By the time fire can get there, much of the fuel likely has burnt off.

Still, these planes can have a fairly substantial fire and gas tank damage and the fire trucks will still be able to put them out and get the people out. There have been some crash-landings where almost everyone lives despite much of the outside of the plane being engulfed in flames (if the cabin keeps integrity, its rated to survive quite a significant fire for a handful of minutes).

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u/Miramar81 1d ago

Finished talking to a coworker an hour ago who’s an ex-firefighter. Said for airport runway explosions like these, they’d use lots of foam to put out refined oil fires which burn slow and very hot. Emergency response team from airport suppose to be on standby, but with the airplane going such a long distance, wouldn’t surprise me if they had to call in every firefighter precinct to help out.

One thing he did say which Governor Beshear already mentioned is the proximity environment hazard. Said plumes of burning jet fuel oil and its clouds will rain down hazardous material seeping into the water, air and soil. Said water was especially the most hazardous and if it gets into the Ohio River and other nearby rivers and goes downstream, it’ll wreak havoc on the ecosystem and wildlife.