PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2024
A tractor-trailer full of produce caught fire in a South Portland parking lot near the Maine Mall early Thursday, officials said, leaking roughly 70 gallons of diesel and requiring the use of firefighting foam to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters determined that the truck’s diesel fuel was burning, and they estimated that 70 gallons were released. Crews extinguished the fire with 47 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) – the same material accidentally released at Brunswick Executive Airport on Aug. 19 – which is known to contain PFAS “forever chemicals.” Firefighters also laid containment booms to try and catch fuel and foam that may have flowed into a gravel wetland and branch of Long Creek. Despite that effort, some diesel flowed into both areas. Officials are advising pedestrians to avoid the area.