Photo courtesy of Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers Members of fire departments in Lyon County — including Marshall Fire Chief Quentin Brunsvold, at left — received donated buckets of soy-based firefighting foam from the Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers and the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council.

An initiative to provide soy-based firefighting foam to Minnesota fire departments continued this year, with Lyon County fire departments receiving donations of SoyFoam.

“It’s a huge asset to fire departments,” said Tracy Fire Chief Dale Johnson III. Johnson said the Tracy Fire Department has had a chance to use SoyFoam at a couple of different kinds of fires this year, and it worked well.

This spring, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council started a campaign to give more than 40 Minnesota counties a chance to donate pails of soy-based firefighting foam to local fire departments. The Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers donated SoyFoam to the Minneota, Ghent, Marshall, Lynd, Russell, Balaton, Garvin, Tracy and Cottonwood Fire Departments, the MSR&PC said.

“This is a wonderful contribution to our county fire departments, and we appreciate these volunteers that keep our communities safe,” said Lyon County Corn & Soybean Growers Chair Brad Verly. “These donations help support our local firefighters with safer, more effective tools and promote a new use for soybeans.”

Marshall Fire Chief Quentin Brunsvold said the Marshall Fire Department hasn’t yet had a chance to try using soy-based firefighting foam, but they were thankful for the donation. One of the positive things about SoyFoam was that it didn’t have “forever chemicals” like PFAS, Brunsvold said.

“We know with the Class A (firefighting) foam that we’ve used in the past, it’s got PFAS in it,” he said. “This is kind of an alternative for that.”

SoyFoam is made with soybean flour, and does not contain intentionally-added PFAS, the MSR&PC said.

Brunsvold said firefighting foam can work in different ways. One thing foam can do is help keep the water being used to put out fires from evaporating, he said. The Marshall Fire Department might use firefighting foam in situations like vehicle fires, Brunsvold said.

Johnson said Tracy firefighters have used SoyFoam for two different fire calls so far. One was for a wildland fire, while the other was a barn fire. The foam did a good job of penetrating into the wooden structure of the barn, he said.

Another positive of the SoyFoam was that it could help soybean farmers, Johnson said.

“Anything we can do locally, I’m for it,” he said.

The SoyFoam campaign is supported by soy checkoff dollars, the MSR&PC said.

“For our soybean farmers, your checkoff investment is helping out the environment and the firefighters who use it,” said Council Director Tom Frisch. Frisch has served on the Dumont Fire Department since 2000. “It’s a checkoff investment that is coming to fruition and helping build demand. For our firefighters, rural, city or anywhere in Minnesota, providing a PFAS-free alternative is our goal. For the public in general, homegrown, renewable products benefit all of us.”