Firefighters from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport who responded to the I-85 fire last month recounted the experience during drills at the airport’s fire training center Thursday.
Airport Rescue Fire Fighting striker units 7 and 8 responded to the March 30 fire that caused a section of the highway to collapse. he airport firefighters were called in because they’re trained to battle extremely hot fires that can reach more than 2,000 degrees, such as those generated by jet fuel, and their trucks carry hundreds of gallons of foam designed to put out such fires.
They got the call shortly after the fire started, but it took about 40 minutes to get through the congested traffic to reach the scene.
By the time they did arrive at around 7:40 p.m., the highway section had just collapsed minutes earlier.