Ocean of fire fighting foam spews into California streets

A vast sea of flame retardant foam engulfed the streets around a California airport hangar, looking at first sight like a snow blizzard.

A false fire alarm caused the foam to spew out of the building’s air vents at San Jose airport on Friday morning, reports AP.

By the afternoon, the flow had surrounded two tanker trucks, reached to the bottom of a stop sign and filled a block-long stretch of the street, said Captain Mitch Matlow of the San Jose fire department.

Video footage shows what looks like a rare Californian snow blizzard, with the foam whirling around in the air.

Firefighters asked people to stay out of the foam that can cause skin irritation.

However, footage show the warning failed to deter a man on a bicycle who pedalled through the fluffy mass. He emerged covered in foam to laughing onlookers.

The rider, Blake Harrington, said he could not see through it even when he stood up on his bike.