Two-fer Tuesday!

30 years ago today Mt. St. Helen's sent up a plume of ash and smoke that was amazing and was the largest eruption in the history of modern America. It was stunning. I remember where I was when it blew! Do you? There are those moments in history that just mark us. JFK's assassination and the 9/11 towers being hit. Man walking on the moon and just those moments in history. That summer when they though it might blow again, I was involved with Beaver Boy's State and we had to arrange for face masks for all who attended just in case it blew while we were in session in Eugene.

Funny how those kind of thing come back to visit and yet there are memories that come back when current event happen. Some of you might remember the movie "Ghostbusters" and what a hit it was on the big screen. I sure enjoyed it. During the movie there is a moment when one of them has this though to the giant Puff's Marshmallow Man and it comes to life and walks the streets.
Yes, I know, it is a bit of a stretch, but you must follow along as to what happened last night. Helene came over for a night of some wine and Chinese Food. We enjoyed the Walla Walla Washington Cabernet and proceeded across the street to a favorite Chinese restaurant, Shanghai Garden and we had a wonderful meal. During the meal I noticed people gathering across the street and then the red lights of a fire truck. Thinking it was an accident we continued our meal and finally departed completed sated and looking forward tom my return on Friday with Jodie, Judy and Rob.

We proceeded across the street and I went to allow access to our building and Helene was already inside. I entered the building to realize that the fire alarms were going off and all elevators were on the 5th floor. Bummer. So what was on fire? It ended up being something that someone dumped in the garage chute. Making matters worse, someone on the 5th floor saw the smoke trying to escape from the 5th floor and opened the chute door and set off a wind tunnel that made the flames go higher and sent smoke into the Uwajimaya Grocery tore and that set off smoke detectors but thankfully, not the sprinklers. It was not hot enough. The "fire" did bring two ladder units and two pumper trucks and a bunch of very hot firemen. Did I mention they were carrying some very LARGE tools! Wowzers!!

Water, I need water...

OK, OK, so it was a heck of a moment. Well, they got the fire out and we had been outside for a good hour and it was not raining so no worries. A lot of people just wanted to go home and a lot of employees wanted to get back in to close for the night. But after the fire went out there was still a lot of smoke in the grocery area and the smoke detectors would not go off...what to do...well, back to Puff, the Marshmallow Man...they decide to bring in this honking HUGE fan. It is 6 to 8 feet across on the truck.

This photo was taken by a fellow resident and they arrive. The fan is to be used in the transit tunnel in Seattle when smoke develops, but the Operations Chief had an idea, why not use it and blow the heck out of the store and food court areas. BAM, it was amazing to watch. in less than 30 seconds the fan had lanterns moving as well as balloons at a new place. Doors all around were moving and we could smell the smoke being blown our. Done and done in less than 5 minutes. It was STUNNING! The picture above was taken by Kelly who lives here in the complex on her iphone and I thank her for it. The other photos I found on the web. It was a hell of a Tuesday!