Firefighting foam floated on Lake Union on Wednesday morning after the Seattle Fire Department extinguished a fire at a Seattle Boat Company storage facility.
But while the fire’s effects on the lake aren’t fully known, officials say the foam itself is environmentally safe and will dissolve in the water on its own.
Washington State Department of Ecology spokesperson Ty Keltner said, “The foam itself was just localized to the water around the facility and it naturally dissipates,” he said. Firefighting foams have historically contained toxic “forever chemicals” that don’t naturally break down in the environment. The per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, can evaporate or seep into the ground, contaminating groundwater, according to the Department of Ecology.