Foam from fire alarm gathers Monday morning outside Topeka hospital

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - What looked a bit like snow Monday morning on a street outside a Topeka hospital’s emergency department was actually foam from a fire-suppression system that had gathered along a curb, authorities said.

Topeka Fire Department crews responded to a report of an automatic fire alarm around 5 a.m. Monday at Stormont Vail Hospital, near S.W. 8th and Washburn Avenue.

Topeka Fire Marshal Alan Stahl said that when crews arrived, they found the water-and-foam fire-suppression system for the helicopter landing pad above the emergency room had “unintentionally activated.”

The activated system resulted in foam along an emergency department ramp and along the west side of the street in the 800 block of S.W. Washburn Avenue.

Most of the foam had dissipated by 9 a.m.

Stahl said there was no fire or other emergency.