A FLEET of passenger planes got an unplanned clean after dodgy fire extinguishers drenched them in foam.

At least four Spirit Airline jets were doused with the bubbles in farcical scenes at the company’s maintenance hangar in Detroit – and techies think they know why.

Footage shot from another plane passing overhead shows a giant puddle of foam oozing from the yellow hangar onto the tarmac.

Two planes are completely surrounded by the bright white substance.

Photos from inside the hangar show the multi-million-pound planes buried in meters of foam to halfway up the fuselage.

Subs are slipping down their sides – after foam evidently filled the air.

The huge foam discharge is an automatic fire extinguisher feature.

When a blaze is detected, the dispensers are programmed to spurt huge volumes of foam both inside and outside the hangar.

But in the incident on July 4, there was no fire.

Technicians believe that a powerful lightening bolt which struck in the area was to blame.

Unaware that it was a false alarm, emergency responders rushed to the hangar.

Upon inspection they were able to confirm that there was no active fire.

Happily, neither were there any injuries associated with the foam spill.

The mess was promptly cleared according to protocol to avoid any further bubble-based chaos.

The mishap led to a delay in some maintenance work, but passengers and company stakeholders were reassured that there would be no major disruption to flight services.

Spirit Airlines explained what happened: “On July 4, the fire suppression system at our Detroit (DTW) maintenance facility was inadvertently activated, which we believe was caused by lightning nearby.

“There was no fire, and no injuries were reported. Two aircraft parked inside the facility and one aircraft parked outside the facility were removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team.

“We have engaged a contractor to assist with cleanup efforts, and we thank first responders for their quick response and assistance.

“There is no impact to our flight operations.”

A spokesperson added: “We take safety and operational efficiency very seriously.

“While this was an unfortunate event, we are grateful that no one was harmed, and our teams are already taking steps to ensure that our hangar operations return to normal as soon as possible.”