BARNSTABLE – Barnstable County Commissioners have decided to temporarily close the Fire and Rescue Training Academy in Barnstable.
The temporary suspension of activities was approved last week in response to chemical contamination of town wells from a chemical found in flame retardant foam.
The town was told by academy officials that the foam was no longer in use. However, last April the wellfield near the academy on Mary Dunn Road was tested for perfluorooctane sulfonate, with positive results.
The town of Barnstable has asked the county to pay for as much as $3 million to clean up those wells.
County Commissioner Sheila Lyons said contamination from both the Academy and other sources has been a recurring issue.
“The activity at the Fire Academy goes back over 30 years, and not all best practices were even known then,” she said. “There is definitely a link between activity at the Academy and the degradation of the well.”
According to Lyons, an unspecified amount of a substance highly resembling the flame retardant was recently found on Academy premises.
Lyons added that Barnstable isn’t the only town contributing to these troubles.
But while the Academy is closed, Lyons said the town is researching into the exact causes of the matter.
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