EPA to Seattle: "Stay In Or Get The Hell Out!"

I had originally planned on posting my reflections on the assault on the skies that took place on the 4th; North Korean missles, the inevitable launch of "that darn shuttle", the mediocre fireworks displays, but the early morning hours brought an assault of a different type to the near-by shores of Lake Union and it trumps any of my petty grousings. A BIG, MASSIVE, HUGE PIER FIRE!!!!!! Wow-ee. Check it out:











"A fire swept through two wooden piers early Wednesday, damaging two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buildings and four of the agency's boats. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries; no one else was hurt. The cause of the blaze wasn't immediately clear.

The fire started at the NOAA pier on Lake Union, which is linked to Puget Sound by a ship canal, at about 1:30 a.m. It happened more than two hours after the end of a large Fourth of July fireworks show over the lake, said Helen Fitzpatrick, a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman. Some timber support beams were still burning Wednesday afternoon, she said. It could take another day or so to fully extinguish the blaze, officials said.

The fire damaged two 224-foot NOAA ships — the McArthur, a decommissioned research vessel; and the Assertive, a former Navy ship that NOAA acquired last year with plans to retrofit it for oceanographic research, said NOAA spokesman Brian Gorman. It also destroyed a small work vessel and an inflatable boat. "It's impossible to tell if the damage is anything more than cosmetic at this point," Gorman said of the Assertive.

Authorities had no immediate damage estimates. The two buildings were a navigation operations trailer and a steam plant used to supply ships moored at Lake Union. Five ships are based at the NOAA's Pacific Marine Operations Center, which serves as a staging point for vessels when they go out on oceanographic research missions, Gorman said. Other NOAA ships also rely on the center for support services." ( from S.F. Gate)

God only knows what the environmental impact of all that burning creosote and crap that went into the lake will be. One EPA official did advise residents in the neighborhood to exercise caution with regard to the poisonous chemicals that were released into, yeah, you got it.... THE SKIES. Locals were told to either "Stay in, or get the hell out." 'Nuff said!