The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Car Fire

    From the living room window, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on out there, but halfway down the driveway it became obvious:

    Car Fire - arrival
    Car Fire – arrival

    The bright spot underneath the car came from liquid fire dripping on the asphalt. For one terrifying moment I thought we were about to take delivery of a lithium fire, but later developments showed it was a just an ordinary fire in an old-school gasoline car.

    A few minutes later, fire equipment blocked the road in both directions, with more vehicles out of sight:

    Car Fire - overview
    Car Fire – overview

    From what I overheard, multiple 911 calls resulted in firefighters chasing the car from one of the fire stations along either Vassar Rd or Spackenkill, the driver finally noticed the lights, and pulled over as the sirens spooled down in front of our house. It had a Georgia plate, so maybe this was near the end of a really long day.

    The first operation got a water lance under the car to knock back the undercarriage fire:

    Car Fire - first water lance
    Car Fire – first water lance

    Then they punched through the tail lights to lance the trunk:

    Car Fire - trunk water lance
    Car Fire – trunk water lance

    Smash the windows and chop the trunk lid open to flood all the interior spaces:

    Car Fire - trunk flooding
    Car Fire – trunk flooding

    From the beginning, everybody knew that ain’t gonna buff right out:

    Car Fire - flatbed
    Car Fire – flatbed

    There’s never a dull moment around here …

    They did a great job cleaning up the debris, so I couldn’t score any attractive glass or small parts.