PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The state has purchased a supply of firefighting foam that can be used to combat blazes that break out at ports.

Officials said they saw a heightened need for the material after fire engulfed a dock at the Port of Providence this past summer as a tanker was unloading gasoline.

The state purchased the foam, currently stored as liquid in 500 five-gallon pails, for roughly $82,500.

from a company in Texas.

The foam was delivered Tuesday morning to a fire station in Providence. Officials said it could be used for both vapor control and fire suppression.

The material is enough to produce 250,000 gallons of finish foam, which officials say would be more than enough to extinguish a fire that erupts at the port.

The fire at the port broke out in July at a terminal operated by Motiva Enterprises, a Houston-based partnership between Saudi Refining Inc. and Shell Oil Co.

AP-ES-12-19-06 1816EST