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Summary

During our ongoing audit of Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) oversight of aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) vehicle requirements, we identified prolonged maintenance issues with ARFF vehicles at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, PR, that could directly impact the airport’s ability to fight fires and respond to other emergencies on runways and taxiways. These issues suggest that the airport’s ARFF vehicles may not be able to spray water and firefighting agent at the required rate during an emergency. We informed FAA of this safety concern, and FAA officials stated that they are working with the airport to address the vehicle maintenance issues. However, the airport has not yet provided us with evidence that it has completed all repairs or conducted a comprehensive assessment of all its ARFF vehicles. Consequently, the Office of Inspector General issued a management advisory to FAA regarding insufficient maintenance of potentially unsafe ARFF vehicles at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport.