Orange Sky Watch

Well I shan't be going to sleep tonight.

At about 9pm'ish we noted it sounded like New York outside - a rash of sirens. Looks out the window and there was a huge plume of smoke climbing into the sky. Although I was fresh out of the shower I whipped some clothes on and went off to nose. It transpired most of the neighbours also have the nosey gene.

As I turned a corner towards the playing fields my breath was momentarily taken. On the industrial estate at the bottom of the hill on which our housing estate is perched, the pallet yard was ablaze. And there is plenty to burn. When we drove past the other day I even commented I had never seen so many pallets stacked tens of feet high.

I went down to the police cordon - you could feel the heat. The crackling noise chatted away, pierced now and then by the odd explosion which sent the flames a bit higher into the night sky. At this point the fascination moved to 'actually it is very big, isn't it?'

Back home over the top of my trees I can now see flames dancing let alone the smoke rising. Mmm, there are an awful lot of things next to that pallet yard which could go bang like a footballer in a brothel. So I shan't be going to bed. It now feels too close to be interesting!

Here's a little video clip:

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Update:

The explosions went on until the wee small hours and it turned out to be the big electricity cable overhead melting and snapping. In all it took 150 firefighters the best part of a day to get it under control.

Factories around have been effected but it is the damaged electricity lines that are causing the most problems, but who would have thought that 70000 tinder dry pallets would be a fire hazard!

Comments

[Stegbeetle]

Whoo, impressive conflagration! I can completely understand that it became "too close to be interesting", I can imagine the kind of stuff that might be nearby.
Everything's so dry at the moment and burns real easy.

I hope you got some sleep.

[Kate]

That must have been really scary. Steg is right, it is so dry at the moment, wood will go up really easily.

[Ally]

Oh, impressive! And scary, too. One of my really vivid childhood memories is driving home from visiting my grandparents with my Dad and stopping to watch a barn burn. It might have been the summer of 1976 ... I can't remember. But the height of the flames really impressed me.

[St Jude]

How did it go then, nothing exploded I take it?

[Attila the Mom]

Good Lord, that's frightening! Glad you're ok!