Brunswick leaders continue pushing for fire system shutdown at MRRA board meeting

One month after 51,000 gallons of toxic firefighting foam spilled at Brunswick Executive Airport, the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority Board met for the first time to hear and deliberate actions demanded by residents, town and legislative leaders.

After a two-hour meeting — including just over an hour of public comments, where residents slammed the MRRA for its response to the spill, the board voted to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters, namely to address calls for Executive Director Kristine Logan’s resignation. Logan had to leave the meeting for this executive session.

“I just hope people understand that it’s a complicated process,” Nichols said after executive session. “And we’re going to do everything we can to make this right. I think It’s our obligation to do what’s right for the environment and our mission and we’ll continue to do that. And we have all the confidence of (Logan) as well.”

Town Councilors and residents continued to press for a fire suppression system shutdown at the MRRA meeting, just a day after the quasi-state agency received a violation notice for its hangars not being up to code.

Board Chairman Herman “Nick” Nichols opened the meeting by reading a statement which acknowledged concerns of MRRA’s spill response, aimed to address “misunderstandings and misconceptions,” and state MRRA’s commitment to doing better.

Nichols said that MRRA’s goal is to safely remove AFFF from its hangars and that the authority has been proactive in accomplishing this goal. He reiterated that it is still required by code to have the systems on.

Nichols said that the emergency board meeting would have been held a week ago, but board members wanted to “do it right.”

The Board then reviewed the 19-item PFAS resolution drafted and passed by the Town Council earlier this month, expressing interest in complying with several of the action items, such as providing information about AFFF inventory on the base and turning over PFAS testing information that was applicable to MRRA.

One item of tension was the call to shut down foaming fire suppression systems on the base. Executive Director Kristine Logan said that MRRA has contractual obligations to aviation tenants at the airport.

Nichols also said last week that a shutdown is neither legal nor possible. The Brunswick Fire Department said that the systems are required by fire code to be there, but can be modified for planes to defuel before being stored in the hangars.

The room was filled with nearly 50 attendees in addition to several on Zoom, which Board Chair Herman “Nick” Nichols said was unusual. Residents and local leaders used the hourlong public comment session to express concerns over MRRA’s handling of the situation.

Council Chair Abby King gave an impassioned speech at the beginning of the meeting, noting that this was the first opportunity to do so since the spill.

King said that the progress made so far since the spill, such as MRRA’s move to improve communication reach through the town’s NotifyMe system, is overshadowed by other problems. She also noted that a call for a fire system shutdown would only be a temporary measure until MRRA can explore other fire suppression methods.

Rep. Dan Ankeles said that he was angry and carrying the “deep-seated frustration” of his constituents, urging the board to act on the items requested by the town.

One speaker, Shaun Halligan, said he worked for a company that operates out of Hangar 6 and cautioned against a shutdown, stating that his business would be negatively impacted by such a move. While he supports the notion to replace the foaming systems, he said that he wants to give MRRA time to figure it out

“It would instantly cause us to shut down,” he said. “…I would basically have to let all my guys go.”

Suzanne Johnson of the Restoration Advisory Board, a citizen board tasked with monitoring cleanup of the base, acknowledged the long history of contamination at Brunswick Landing. The EPA designated the former air base a superfund site in 1987.

“Never assume that this property is clean,” Johnson said.

The Brunswick Fire Department issued a notice of violation and an order on Thursday to correct fire suppression system issues that appeared on the inspection reports for MRRA-owned hangars 5 and 6. Deputy Chief Josh Shean said that the Fire Department received the reports, which showed deficiencies in the fire safety system, on Sept. 18 — the same day that MRRA released the information to the public.

The order requires MRRA to submit a plan of corrective action by the end of this month. If not done, the Fire Department will issue a citation, the first of which would be $100. Shean said that he is confident MRRA will submit a plan on time.

“In some ways, they’re already underway in terms of getting the system back into compliance,” Shean said.

He added that the reason the system was not in compliance is simply because it has been uninspected. The reports for all hangars that have been released as response to the spill continues to unfold are two months past due. Regardless, he said that the fire department will continue to monitor inspection reports at the airport to ensure compliance.

Shean recently explained that property owners are not typically obliged to submit inspection reports or issues to the fire department. While all owners are technically required to be up to code, abiding by that code is somewhat of an honor system. While fire departments are the enforcers of fire code, they do not proactively ensure that all buildings are in compliance, Shean said.

Kristine Logan, the executive director of the authority, said that her team is “actively looking for options” to resolve the violation and that MRRA aims to submit a plan on time. She could not yet say when any repairs would be made, and that next steps depend on whether a new system needs to be installed in the hangars.

Logan has previously stated that overhauling the systems in hangars 4, 5 and 6 would cost about $8 million.

Press Herald reporter Daniel Kool contributed to this report.

This story will be updated.

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