No, it’s not a groundbreaking foam party being held on a canal boat, although that would be a pretty cool idea. Yesterday there was a blaze at a Carbogen Amcis Ltd chemical plant and the Ashton Canal in Manchester was given an instant foamy makeover.

Apparently we shouldn’t worry, it’s thought that the foam was caused by detergents used by the firemen, rather than flesh-eating chemicals. I’m presuming the local wildlife is royally jazzed off about it though. Residents in a 2 mile radius were asked to keep their windows and doors closed as the blaze was tackled. A spokesperson from the environment agency said:

Initial investigations by Environment Agency Officers show that there appears to have been minimal impact on water quality, but our officers will continue to monitor and respond as necessary.

It took around 50 firefighters to sufficiently douse the flames over night and now there’s a right mess to clear up. It looks pretty cool, but our thoughts are with the local fishes.

Have a look over the following slides:

Image VIA