Forever chemicals’ toxic legacy at Chicago’s airports

The aftermath of a 2016 fire on a runway at O’Hare Airport. A firefighting foam with a toxic chemical was used to douse flames from the American Airlines plane. (Sun-Times file)

When an American Airlines jetliner caught fire on an O’Hare Airport runway in October 2016, firefighters rushed to the scene.

Within three minutes, they’d blanketed the flames with a suffocating foam, a product used at airports for half a century.