Flooding and Fires and Lightning: Oh My!

Jason Dunn

http://www.jasondunn.com/calgary-storm-410

This is completely off topic, but I had an eventful evening last night and I thought the readers of this site might get a kick out of reading about it. Here's part of the story...

"The thunder continued to boom, over and over, and the lightning strikes blazed in the sky. I started to notice the odour of smoke, but I didn’t think anything of it (idiot that I am). Ashley told me that there was a house on fire down the street from us, and I couldn’t believe it! I looked out my walk-out basement window and sure enough, amidst the sheets of falling rain there was thick black smoke rising from a house just a few homes down from us. When you see something like that, it’s a strange sensation. I thought “Ok, fire in the rain, this can’t last long, we’re not in any danger.” (Well, actually, I think my first thought was “HOLY CRAP, WHAT THE HELL?!?”). I grabbed my Canon SD800 digital camera, put on a jacket, and went outside with Ashley. There were already police and fire trucks on the street (why didn’t they turn on their sirens so we’d know there was something happening?) so that was a relief that help was already there. That meant though, of course, that the lightning strike that started the fire occurred at least 20 minutes prior. It’s a bit scary to think that there was a blazing fire a few hundred feet from my home and I had no clue. Since the fire was on the back side of the house, we walked to our back yard to get a better vantage point. Boy did we ever!"

I need to point out right away that no one was hurt - the people in the house got out safely. From a technology stand point, I was impressed with my Canon SD800 and my Nikon D200. Both of them got very wet, and both functioned without any problem. I was more worried about my SD800 - because the Nikon D200 is weather sealed, while the Canon is not - but the SD800 digital camera came through like a champ. From a photography point of view, I wish I had a steadier hand, but I had to balance the desire to get a good picture with the desire to not get my equipment too soaked. Wink

Check out the rest of the story...

Pete Paxton · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:39 pm Post subject:

Wow, amazing and great that no one got hurt in all that!
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Rocco Augusto · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject:

Yowzer!
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hotdram · Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:22 pm Post subject:

Wow, glad they all got out safe.
We have been having a very wet and stormy spring here in the Dallas area (finally out of the drought) and a lot of homes have been getting hit by lightning Sad

One house caught on fire after a storm blew over a utility pole with live wires onto it.

Lately, even the slightest rumble of thunder and I start scurrying around the house unplugging everything (maybe I need a quick disconnect Smile

)
~Rob
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applejosh · Smartphone Pupil Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 17

That's pretty impressive.

On a side note, your WordPress theme rocks! (Kudos to Darius??)
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Q (Sprint), X51v

Jason Dunn · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject:

Mike Temporale · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:04 am Post subject:

A couple years ago, the house right next to my mother caught fire. It was a very cold November day. I can recall all the ice hanging off her house for weeks to come. (The fireman hosed off each of the neighbours homes in case the fire decided to try and spread. So the whole place was a giant skating rink. Crazy - and messy.

Glad it wasn't your place and it wasn't winter either. Wink

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