The Environmental Impacts of Fire-Fighting Foams

Extinguishing foams are commonly used for extinguishing the fire of flammable liquids, whereby their insulating, choking and quenching effects are exploited. The purpose of the paper is to consider and compare the foams currently used in fire departments, regarding mainly their high extinguishing effect (capability of faster aborted burning on the large surface at low foam consumption), but also their impact on the environment in each stage of their life cycle.