Local Industrial Fire

[Guest guest]

Hi, I live in upstate NY in the small village of Broadalbin that made

the news last night where the 'shoddy mill' as residents call it burnt

to the ground. Eleven fire districts were called in to fight the blaze

of recycled foam and textile products. To see local news coverage go

to www.broadalbin.net and click on Fiber Conversion tag

I am so fortunate to have people calling me from other cities and

asking if I'm okay, if I want to come to their house. I live two

blocks away from the blaze and watched the thick black smoke raise up

over the houses on the next street and blow east over my neighborhood.

Luckily the smoke was going up and over, the streets were not filled

with smoke as one might think (and I recall an apt. building that

filled our village with smoke when it caught fire). A neighbor

complained about smelling plastic. This from a man who never puts out

garbage on the curb or recycles... insteads burns EVERYTHING in a

metal drum on an almost weekly basis... now that wreaks havoc on my

asthma when I can't close my house up tight enough to keep out the smell.

At first it was thick and black, like something you'd see in a horror

movie, then it turned to red, I thought 'oh, that can't be good, got

to be some kind of chemical'. then the sun set and you could see the

night sky all lit up and the white steam from the firefighters water.

Luckily no one was hurt in the fire, and I don't think any of our fire

fighters sustained injury despite the freezing cold. We live in a

small town with limited industry - such disasters are not common

place. But it has me thinking about what we would do if we did have to

evacuate the immediate area. I'm all prepared for power outages with a

generator and batteries for my breathing treatment machines. Certain

geographic areas and climate risks puts a lot of people on alert to

these situations, but many of us like myself don't even think about

the possibility. Relocating on a moment's notice was almost a reality

last night due to this fire. Maybe as asthmatics we need to think

about what we'd do if our locale became filled with irritating and

noxious fumes and smoke.