Battling B-17 Bomber Blaze 'Textbook Case' for Specially Trained Firefighters

The biggest challenge of putting out the fire that destroyed a piece of American aviation history Monday was not dousing the flames.

The pictures and television footage show a massive blaze that seemed to burn for hours when, in reality, once the proper equipment made it to the scene firefighters had struck out in less than 60 minutes.

Reaching the plane, which made an emergency landing in the middle of a sodden cornfield off Minkler Road, was another story, said Bill Perkins, assistant chief with the .

“Right away we called in Sugar Grove’s specialized truck to handle a jet fuel fire, but once it got to the field it just sank,” he said. “I mean the thing was up to its axles in mud.”

As firefighters worked to free the vehicle, which carries 500 pounds of a chemical used to fight jet fuel fires called Purple-K, personnel that were able to make it to the scene through another less muddy path worked to fight  smaller fires, ones that weren’t burning the 1,000 gallons of jet fuel on board, Perkins said. In all, the OFPD had nine firefighting vehicles on the scene.

The Aurora Municipal Airport, from where the Liberty Belle B-17 bomber took off Monday at about 9:30 a.m., is under the Sugar Grove Fire Department’s jurisdiction, and Chief Marty Kunkel said every one of his firefighters goes through special training to respond to airport emergencies.

Kunkel said every Sugar Grove firefighter must be certified in airport firefighting and rescue through the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office. That training includes learning the different types of aircraft and how to approach them, and going through an actual airport fire simulation at O’Hare Airport, Kunkel said. Several OFPD firefighters have also completed the training, Perkins said.

Additionally, the Sugar Grove Fire Department has a special crash rescue truck with extra fire retardants loaded up—foam and the Purple-K that is used in some fire extinguishers. It was this truck and these chemicals that eventually put out the Liberty Belle blaze, Kunkel said.

Because the airport is such a specific case when it comes to firefighting, there are special alerts set up so firefighters know what to expect. Monday’s landing was an Alert 3, the highest level, reserved for crashes and plane fires.

And although the plane was brought down south of the airport, in the OFPD’s jurisdiction, help from the Sugar Grove crash truck (as well as the department’s brush fire truck) was requested.

Kunkel said the only challenge was getting to the plane.

“It was very muddy, and both our vehicles actually got stuck,” Kunkel said. “We had to pull them out to get them closer to the plane.”

Once there, he said, it was a textbook case, and the fire was out fairly quickly.

“We respond to the airport numerous times a year for aircraft problems,” Kunkel said. “It’s why we have this specialized training. We have this asset we have to protect.”

Perkins said despite the challenges of the day and the disappointing loss of the vintage aircraft, the operation was a success.

“You always have to look at these things and see what you can do better or differently,” he said. “The access was very difficult but the crews that were there did a great job.”