Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/20/pallet-fire-in-chicago.html
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No doubt a massive tire fire is not far off in what’s shaping up to be the hottest summer in recorded history.
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Does the pallet fire have a colorful palette?
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Quite so, plus a certain taste in the air on the palate of those present.
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I unfortunately became a minor expert in fires after a warehouse I managed went up a few years back. This was managed really aggressively compared to mine - there’s other warehouses nearby and they fought to avoid them going up.
As for the cause, I hope they find it. Mine was so violent and hot of a fire that they never were able to find the true cause, but had multiple leads. Lawsuits and insurance people didn’t like that.
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Looking forward to visiting The Third City in a few years…
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I used to be an commercial insurance underwriter. We would never insure a Plallet company. This is why.
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But Mrs. O’Leary’s Pallets are the best!
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My son’s a firefighter and most of the time when the property is fully engulfed like that there’s really nothing they can do other than try to keep it from spreading to other nearby structures. Wildfires are the same - lots of available fuel and oxygen so you just do your best to keep it contained until it burns itself out.
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A lot of wooden pallets are treated with chemicals, so I’d say avoid that smoke. They specifically warn people reusing old pallets for arts&crafts projects or rustic furniture to avoid certain types.
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Yeah, I learned that with our fire. I was talking with ground level people and after one point, the firefighters stopped fighting it. I asked why and they said the building was effectively gone and it was safer for them to just stay back and prevent it spreading rather than try to put it out.
One of the coolest (?) parts of the fire was days after it was out, the FD flew a drone overhead and showed me it was still red hot underneath - effectively the fire was still burning under feet of concrete and ash.
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It was impressive from my office a couple miles away - a legit towering inferno.
There was a slightly smaller warehouse fire the next day at a building a mile west along the same train line (a place disconcertingly labeled “Service Battery - Car battery store” on Google maps).
Hopefully just a kooky coincidence! Or just a leading indicator of the impending commercial real estate crash?
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That’s a problem with wildfires too: ghost fires that can smolder underground for months.
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Or years. Centralia, PA.
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Or centuries.
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A Native American friend who is a linguist recently-ish became enamored of Irish culture and language. She told us she didn’t know why she’d suddenly gotten so fascinated by Ireland and her people. I suggested, “An oppressed native people whose culture was suppressed, told what religion they must have, whose land, language, and children have been stolen from them…” and she pointed at me in agreed realization.
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