Well-Intentioned Man Fails Spectacularly
(NBC) – State and local inspectors were investigating the fire that shut down the facility, which according to the company has 24 tanks capable of holding more than 3 million barrels of different kinds of fuels.
The seven-hour blaze erupted in towering, stubborn flames Tuesday afternoon at the facility in Crockett, about 30 miles northeast of downtown San Francisco.
A firefighter was injured and was treated at a hospital, said Contra Costa Fire Department spokesman Steve Hill, who had no details about the firefighter’s injuries.
Emergency sirens blared and a column of thick black smoke that could be seen for miles prompted Contra Costa County public health officials to order people in Crockett, neighboring Rodeo and part of Hercules to stay inside with fans and air conditioners off and to seal their windows and doors with tape or wet towels.
I’ve been laughing at this for a good 15 minutes now. I’ve never seen smoke that dark, a fire that large, and so much water miss the mark in such a short period of time. I have no idea how hard it is to fly a helicopter. Full stop. I assume it’s very difficult. I can’t imagine how much more difficult it would be to fly a helicopter over an active fire juxtaposed to millions of gallons of fuel which could also explode in a given moment. I’m having an anxiety attack just thinking about that situation, so good on this pilot to even have the balls to be in the mix here.
With all that being true, this is still funny. What an airmail. Fire couldn’t have been more of a fire when that water hit that small, unburnt forest a few hundred feet away. Some poor bird probably had to rebuild its nest after getting hit by an unexpected tidal wave from the heavens above. Love the hustle by this pilot, they’ve got the right mentality for this line of work. Give me that will and want over talent every day of the week. A couple more practice runs and that hard work will eventually start yielding big time results.
PS – This is just good ol’ fashioned meme-ing right here