June 16, 2008

Wildwood Boardwalk Burns

I went down the shore over the weekend -- to Wildwood, of course, because Wildwood is awesome and if you disagree you're wrong. On Saturday, wildfires from North Carolina and Virginia somehow created a haze on the beaches down the shore. "It smells like cedar," some dude told the Press of Atlantic City. Neat!

And, then, just this morning, a three-alarm fire broke out under Mariner's Landing in Wildwood, requiring 200 firefighters to get the blaze under control. I was in Wildwood over the weekend; fire in Wildwood Monday morning. Coincidence? Well, of course. The Boardwalk of Fame and Happiness (this is an actual sign) doesn't just catch fire because I went for a visit, ate at Sam's Pizza and learned that spray-on sunscreen doesn't work as well as the regular stuff.

Today's fire wasn't quite as tragic as the one that leveled Castle Dracula six years ago; the only rides that were damaged were the Super Scooter and the Seal Flume (which are probably kids' rides). Ha ha, kids, looks like we grownups win again!

Posted by D-Mac at 08:54 AM | Comments (3)

November 20, 2007

Flying Pig Farm Destroyed By Blaze

Just to prove that I'm an equal opportunity offender -- i.e. it's not just Barbaro, I must comment on the Burlington County fire that killed 1500 pigs.

In this case, a picture says a thousand words. Or 1500 pigs.

1500 Pigs Killed in Burlco Barn Blaze [KYW 1060]
Nov. 9: Hey The Inquirer Is Doing That Pig Thing Again

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September 08, 2007

University City Is Burning

A friend says there was another underground fire in the spring that was better, which can lead us to only one conclusion: Serial Ninja Turtle arsonist. Or Centralia is bigger than we thought.

Underground Fire [YouTube]

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July 22, 2007

Breaking: Mayor Finally Does Something Useful

Mayor Street and his bodyguards (!) were walking through North Philly (oh) Friday morning when they spotted a house on fire. And so they did what any city mayor would do: Helped make sure two kids were okay and rescue a cat.

Wearing sweats and a baseball cap, the mayor rushed across the street from the fire and made sure the kids were okay, while one of his bodyguards ran into the house to rescue J-Lo the kitty.

The mayor then went down the street, telling people to evacuate their homes, in case the fire spread. (No word if they followed his suggestion.)

"People say the mayor doesn't do anything, but I really respect him for stopping and caring," said Ashley Young told the Daily News' David Gambacorta. "He could have kept on going, but he gave us his attention. He did a good deed."

I would like to think anybody would stop to help if a house was on fire, but, hey, let's not complain. Hip, hip, hooray for Mayor Street!

Street, aides help out at fire scene [Daily News]

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June 25, 2007

Evil Homeless People Nearly Disrupt Gambling

Yesterday, several buildings caught fire on the Atlantic City boardwalk, interrupting many vacationers' plans to buy t-shirts with stupid slogans on them ("I'm not as think as you drunk I am" being the pinnacle of such shirts), to purchase items for 99 cents and to, uh, get a massage.

Also catching fire were the headquarters of the casino commission, although NBC 10 lets us know the important details.

Investigators said homeless people living illegally under the boardwalk might have started Sunday’s three-alarm blaze that destroyed five businesses and damaged casino offices. No one was hurt in the fire that broke out near Ocean Avenue, and casino officials said gaming in the city should not be affected, even though control offices were damaged.

Phew! Those terrible homeless people, starting a fire and nearly disrupting the plans of vacationers to give their money to rich people. You people are the reason why Donald Trump is leaving AC. Ugh. Can't the homeless think of anyone but themselves once in a while?

Police: Vagrants May Have Started Atlantic City Boardwalk Blaze [NBC 10]
Officials trying to find cause of Atlantic City boardwalk blaze [AP/Philly.com]
Trump's A.C. era could be near end [Inquirer]

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March 12, 2007

W. Philly High Getting Lots Of Practice With New Policy

After a teacher was assaulted outside the school on Friday, West Philadelphia HS began a zero tolerance policy as well as new evacuation procedures. (Before, I guess, attacking teachers was worth a slap on the wrist.) The policy meant, uh, zero tolerance for foolin' around.

Well, they had a pretty easy job of testing it.

West Philadelphia High students were evacuated Monday after two small fires were intentionally set inside the school. These incidents were the latest in a string of violent acts involving students on campus.

Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said students were evacuated at about 11 a.m. while firefighters extinguished a fire in a second floor locker. Students reentered the building and moments later were re-evacuated when a second fire was set inside another locker on the second floor.

"Both fire have been ruled incendiary and the fire marshal is here with us and the police department's conducting the investigating as to who's going to be responsible for starting these fires," Walker said.

Expect about two or three more fires by the end of the day.

West Philadelphia High Violence Continues [CBS 3]

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September 22, 2006

Leftovers: Fire, Water, Sue

• PECO is probing the cause of yesterday's explosion/fire/half-day. But guess what? "Litigation is possible," according to the Inquirer. Dun dun dun! [Inky]

• Several commenters on this thread have proposed John Kruk as the Phillies' new manager. It's official: Beerleaguer has gotten too popular. Then again, who could resist the dreamy Jason Weitzel? [Beerleaguer]

• Yesterday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to earth very smoothly. Today, an astronaut fainted at a press conference. (The astronaut is okay.) It was not the one from Philadelphia, though. Hooray! [AP/CNN.com]

• Two more homicides in Philadelphia this morning -- a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old. Sigh. [Inky]

• And, finally, Sweeney is hosting the Dog Olympics tomorrow. Oh, now this is an event for the ages. [Philebrity]

Posted by D-Mac at 04:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 21, 2006

Your Evening Commute To Get A Lot Worse

An underground explosion has shut down pretty much all of Center City. A 36-block radius -- 13th to 18th, Walnut to Vine -- is closed. (The explosion also took out power to PW. Oh, the horror.)

Thousands of people have been evacuated after an underground explosion and then fire at S. 15 Street. KYW 1060 is reporting that a cable had a fault in it at 15th Street, and then someone tried to switch the load to another cable -- but instead switched it to the faulty cable. (Got all that?)

Now there are fires at 15th and Ranstead and 13th and Chestnut. Of course, if this really affects you, you're probably out in front of your building and not reading this, are you?

Update, 3:10 p.m.: Fire commish says one person is injured; also has hilarious "has to turn down his radio" moment during the presser, as if he were on sports talk radio.

Underground Electrical Explosion Rocks Penn Center Area [KYW 1060]

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July 10, 2006

Garden Of Eaton

Over the weekend, French gothic revival-style church Eden Hall -- inexplicably in Far Northeast Philadelphia -- caught on fire, and police now suspect an arson.

Right. It's probably just some stupid kids, and, while the church was pretty, it had been boarded up and abandoned for years, etc., etc. Let's get to the Action News report:

The flames that devoured a historic former church in Philadelphia were started intentionally according to fire investigators. Firefighters struggled against the blaze at the former church early Sunday.

Action News was in Philadelphia's Torresdale neighborhood overnight as flames shot through the roof of what was most recently called Eaton Hall.

Actually, I'm kind of surprised it wasn't called Eatin' Hall.

Church Fire Ruled Arson [6 ABC]

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June 14, 2006

Buster Comes Home (To Kensington)

Lassie, the pup that saved Timmy from the well 450,000 times, has been reincarnated as a member of of a Philadelphia family, it seems.

The heroic boxer/pitbull mix Buster was sitting in his owners' Kensington home early Tuesday morning when he smelled smoke. ("What is it, boy?") So he barked and barked. ("Timmy's in the well again?") And barked some more. ("Oh, Timmy fell into the wood chipper?")

Finally, his barking woke up his owners, Anthony and Donna Hernane, who jumped out the window after realizing their house was on fire. Firefighters were able to resuce the reincarnated Lassie, Buster.

Look for NBC 10 to set up a talking Buster the Dog online chat feature any day now.

Dog Saves Family From Burning House [NBC 10]

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June 06, 2006

I Can Sing A Rainbow, Too

This, essentially, is the same type of headline as "Bright Rainbow Remains From Thunderstorm." And this is the lead story. Eh, whatever: It's 06-06-06, I suppose they need something ominous.

Strong Smell Of Smoke Remains From Bridesburg Fire [CBS 3]

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March 02, 2006

Rub a dub dub (fire in the hot tub)

Out in Montgomery County, which is sort of like a nicer version of Bucks County, some people have fancy enough houses to have outdoor hot tubs. That's good for them. However, sometimes things can go south quickly (emphasis mine):

Hot tub causes fire: An electrical fire Monday night caused by an outdoor hot tub resulted in damage to a backyard deck and the siding of a home on the 100 block of Sunrise Drive but was confined there.

Gerry Grover, the township's director of fire services, said the fire was called in at 1:06 a.m. Police, North Penn Fire Co. and the Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Lansdale assisted the Montgomery Township Fire Department at the scene.

Grover did not believe the home's occupants needed to seek shelter.

Wait. So they have to sleep outside? Near where the fire was? How do you people do things out there?

Police news 3.1.06 [Doylestown Intelligencer]
Photo by clurr

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February 08, 2006

Interactivity! Blogs! Complaining! This is the future!

Just after midnight, a cargo plane caught fire and made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International airport. (That's the plane at left, in a photo from CBS 3's website. From that photo, you also learn the Philadelphia Kixx are playing the Baltimore Blast this morning. Helpful!)

Anyway, the plane caught fire and landed at the airport, closing it from midnight to 6 a.m. The blaze was under control at around 4. KYW does excellent video of the fire, as well as the woman-on-the-scene reporter, Stephanie Abrams, who we can assume gets 2 hours of sleep a night since CBS 3 is always sending her out at 5 a.m. to do stories.

The Inquirer has full coverage on the Early Word blog, which means award-winning headline writer Peter Mucha has posted a thread saying "complain here if you're stuck at the airport!" So, that means this morning the Early Word blog is focused on people stuck at the airport, who have laptops and enough time to check mail at a wireless point. That's a mighty big audience.

A commenter leaves a big rant about how this is stupid, and Early Word editor Peter Mucha has a snappy comeback, but that's about all the comments they're going to get.

But this is the future. When's the "airport delay podcast" starting up?

Airport Reopens After Cargo Plane Fire [CBS 3]
Burning plane lands [AP via Philly.com]
Affected, Inconvenienced by Airport Closure? [Early Word]

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