Battling B-17 Bomber Fire a '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.

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