Elizabeth Weise

USATODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — A malfunction in a fire alarm at a new hangar at the San Jose, Calif. airport flooded a nearby street with billowing mountains of foam, creating an almost irresistible white foam-scape that reached the top of stop signs.

The fire retardant foam, technically an "aqueous film-forming foam," began to fill a street in Santa Clara next to Mineta San José International Airport just after 10:50 a.m., according to San Jose police.

It took cleanup crews at least eight hours to get the foamy mess cleaned up. Much of the foam was gone as of about 8:40 p.m. Friday.

Police set up a roadblock to keep people from driving, biking or walking through the fire retardant phone, though they were not entirely successful when it came to bikes.

Emergency personnel on the scene told the San Francisco Chronicle and assembled onlookers that the foam was not dangerous, but only a mild skin irritant.

It was at that point that Blake Harrington decided to ride his bike through the foam. As shown on multiple videos posted on Twitter, Harrington disappeared into the blob of foam, totally engulfed by it. At one point he hit a sign rendered invisible by the enormous white blob, the Chronicle reported.

"Someone had to do it," he said when he emerged on the other side and was immediately swarmed by reporters.