If you've been down to visit, you'll know that our neighbourhood is surrounded on three sides by industrial areas. Which doesn't really affect us much. Well...except when there's a fire I guess...
Two blocks over, there's a long stretch that contains a perfume factory (which obviously contains alcohol), a paint factory and (of coures) a propane storage/distribution building.
Below is a current picture of the paint factory.
I was having my Sunday afternoon nap, when one of the guys knocked on my door and said, "You need to see this!" I was a bit surprised, to say the least. Fires are fairly rare here, since most buildings are built of cement and brick. But of course...paint burns nicely.
A couple of the guys and I went over a bit closer to see what was happening (don't hassle me...either one of my parents would have done the same thing). We were there a half an hour or so, before the first fire truck showed up.
Yea...it didn't exactly instill confidence. My first thought was, "Oh great...we're going to lose the entire neighbourhood." Then a few minutes later the next truck showed up...
...and I felt better. Except for the big "Volunteer Firefighters" written across the side of the ladder. That still made me a bit nervous. Then the third truck showed up, and we all relaxed a little...
...until one of the firemen came up to me (of all people) and asked if there was a swimming pool in the area. He got half a dozen different answers from the people standing around, and eventually he wandered off. I guess they were looking for a water source? (No fire hydrants down here...). I heard one of the guys behind me say to the guy next to him, "They really have no plan." Then I was back to being worried.
As it stands now, we're back in the house, and I just keep checking the fire every once in awhile to see what's happening. There's a tree on the horizon about half way between the fire and the building where the propane tanks are being stored (it's where we buy our propane for the stove and there are anywhere from 500 to a thousand tanks there). If or when the smoke hits that tree, I'm gathering the guys and we're heading for Burger King to wait this out. It's a good thing the wind is blowing the smoke away from us, or we'd be in the middle of a huge, toxic cloud.
A couple more pictures...
I imagine all they'll be able to do is contain it and let it burn itself out. Like I said, we really don't get much in the way of fires down here, so I don't think there's really the capacity to fight this in any significant way. It's been a couple of hours now, and I can still hear fire trucks arriving, so I guess we'll see.
At any rate...never a dull moment here in Bolivia...
UPDATE:
It's almost 10 o'clock, and the fire is still going strong. It spread to two more adjacent buildings, but I think they have it under control now. Ivan and I walked over there earlier, and I took a few more pictures. It's pretty spectacular at night. The pictures don't really do it justice.
.jpg)
Two blocks over, there's a long stretch that contains a perfume factory (which obviously contains alcohol), a paint factory and (of coures) a propane storage/distribution building.
Below is a current picture of the paint factory.
A couple of the guys and I went over a bit closer to see what was happening (don't hassle me...either one of my parents would have done the same thing). We were there a half an hour or so, before the first fire truck showed up.
Yea...it didn't exactly instill confidence. My first thought was, "Oh great...we're going to lose the entire neighbourhood." Then a few minutes later the next truck showed up...
...and I felt better. Except for the big "Volunteer Firefighters" written across the side of the ladder. That still made me a bit nervous. Then the third truck showed up, and we all relaxed a little...
...until one of the firemen came up to me (of all people) and asked if there was a swimming pool in the area. He got half a dozen different answers from the people standing around, and eventually he wandered off. I guess they were looking for a water source? (No fire hydrants down here...). I heard one of the guys behind me say to the guy next to him, "They really have no plan." Then I was back to being worried.
As it stands now, we're back in the house, and I just keep checking the fire every once in awhile to see what's happening. There's a tree on the horizon about half way between the fire and the building where the propane tanks are being stored (it's where we buy our propane for the stove and there are anywhere from 500 to a thousand tanks there). If or when the smoke hits that tree, I'm gathering the guys and we're heading for Burger King to wait this out. It's a good thing the wind is blowing the smoke away from us, or we'd be in the middle of a huge, toxic cloud.
A couple more pictures...
The view from my window...it's actually closer
than it looks in this picture...
From the traffic circle on the Forth Ring....
I imagine all they'll be able to do is contain it and let it burn itself out. Like I said, we really don't get much in the way of fires down here, so I don't think there's really the capacity to fight this in any significant way. It's been a couple of hours now, and I can still hear fire trucks arriving, so I guess we'll see.
At any rate...never a dull moment here in Bolivia...
UPDATE:
It's almost 10 o'clock, and the fire is still going strong. It spread to two more adjacent buildings, but I think they have it under control now. Ivan and I walked over there earlier, and I took a few more pictures. It's pretty spectacular at night. The pictures don't really do it justice.
.jpg)
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