Current Ramblings
Friday, June 17, 2005
BAM!
So this morning, around 1AM, one of the dumpsters behind our apartment building exploded.
The blinds were closed but the windows were open last night, and I happened to be looking in that direction when I noticed a bright flash and a pop, and then a sound like sizzling or maybe fragments of stuff falling to the ground. I went to the window and looked out, hoping that whatever it was, it was not my car, and sure enough the dumpster at the far end of the parking lot was on fire. It wasn't just like the trash in it was burning, it was more like the dumpster contained fire and little else, bright orange and pink flames that shot out several feet toward the sky. I ran into the bedroom and called 911, but before I could even get rerouted to the fire department I noticed a helicopter outside that had spotted it. The guy at the fire station took my information and said they already had someone on the way but it wouldn't hurt for me to go outside and direct them if they looked lost. By the time I got my sandals on and got downstairs a fire engine had already arrived, presumably called in by the police helicopter, and they were starting to hose it down. It's certainly a relief to know that the fire department here has such a quick response time. I don't know what caused it to explode and combust quite like that, whether a smouldering cigarette hit something explosive, or fumes from some cleaning chemicals compressed near the bottom had reacted, or whether the remains of what looked like a window AC unit I noticed in there when I was being nosy today had anything to do with it. But man, it went up good.
posted@2:21 PM by:Trixter: 0 comments