Fire engine red

Yoshi and I were the last ones to leave work today, and as we walked to our cars I was already lost in my own little world, focusing on getting my things in my car while wondering whether there'd be much wildlife activity at Howell's this evening. Then Yoshi said, "Look at that smoke." I turned around, and sure enough there was a column of dark smoke coming from the area where Orvis had their big tent sale over the weekend. I honestly figured they were just burning some brush or something, but Yoshi told me "you have a camera—go take pictures." So I grabbed it and started walking toward Orvis. Once I had a clearer view I stopped in the parking lot and took a look through my camera to see what was on fire—and it definitely wasn't brush:



Before I go any further, I feel like I should say right off the bat that to the best of my knowledge absolutely no one got hurt. From what I was able to learn the driver wasn't in the truck when the fire started, the guy who was loading stuff in the trailer soon realized what was going on and got well clear of the ensuing blaze, and the firefighters did their job quickly and efficiently. Another bit of good fortune was that what wind there was was blowing from west to east; if it'd been the other way around, there's an excellent chance the fire spreads over to the tents. And that, obviously, would have been an entirely new level of bad.

Anyway, after I realized what was going on I continued on past the ponds at Orvis and through the field until I had a fairly decent view. I still wasn't all that close, all things considered, but that was just fine with me because:

1. No way was I going to interfere with the firefighters as they did their job, which to my mind included not only staying out of the way physically but not being a mental distraction either.
2. Fire and gasoline in immediate proximity to each other? Yeah, my parents didn't raise no fool.







What was left of the passenger-side door:



One of the firemen poking around in the wreckage, presumably checking for anything that was still smoldering:



A closer look at the cab:



Making sure the wreckage has been completely drenched:



A last look at what little remained of the truck:



How the fire got started appeared to be a mystery to both the firefighters and bystanders, or at least among those folks I either overheard or spoke to directly. If I ever learn more, I'll try to remember to include the information in a future post.