At the largest aircraft maintenance hangar in the world’s second-busiest airport, O’Hare International in Chicago, United Airlines experienced multiple inadvertent discharges of the foam/water fire suppression system. Hangar 710 consists of three separate aircraft maintenance bays, each large enough to hold two Boeing 747 aircraft parked nose-to-nose. The existing fire suppression systems consist of overhead pre-action sprinkler systems and low-level AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) monitors to cover each aircraft service bay.
Our team provided fire protection consulting and retro-commissioning services for the existing fire protection system. The scope also included retro-commissioning of the entire foam fire suppression releasing system, including all input and output devices, and provided recommendations for modifications or upgrades to the system to reduce the potential for future inadvertent discharges.