Garbage Fires and Hidden Ponds

I reluctantly responded to a fire call today. It's not that I didn't want to attend, but I afraid that I'd run out of time since I had to drive to Manhattan by 10:30, less than 90 minutes later, and I didn't want to take the risk that this fire would be a lengthy job. But when the 2nd call came in, requesting more manpower, I decided I had to risk it. And when I listened to the address, I realized that this garbage fire was at the Clearwater Recycling Center, less than a quarter mile from me. I was there before the firetrucks.

The fire had apparently started in a large building that houses some huge Dumpsters filled with refuse. Some of this garbage comes off of private trucks, the detritus of farms, construction jobs, and businesses. It seems that something had been smoldering, and when it got dumped into this partially open building, it must have had a chance to ignite and to spread. Luckily it didn't spread far by our arrival.

Putting out a trash fire is dangerous because of fumes. You never know what's going to turn up in the mix. Firefighters need to wear protective masks connected to oxygen tanks; they're called SCBAs. [SCBA is like SCUBA, except it's not Underwater.] I discovered a few months ago that while most men need a medium or large mask, I need a small one because I lost 25 pounds recently, which affects the way a mask fits. There aren't any small-size masks handy on the trucks that responded, so I wasn't going to be allowed to hose down this fire. Instead, I went with another fireman to the tanker truck, and we drove to a nearby pond.

Clearwater has a pond that everyone sees as they drive to the dump, but that pond is a bit hard for us to reach with our hard suction tubes. The driver of the tanker, an expert on everything New Paltz, explained that we were instead driving to a little-known pond behind near the baseball fields. We hung out for awhile, trying to decide the best way to orient the truck, and eventually we dropped the suction tools into the pond. Later we filled up another truck using the pond water, and within a surprisingly short time, we were done.

I attended a garbage fire and learned how to help out with the tanker truck, and I wasn't even late for my drive to Manhattan.