The Cellar Image of the Day

Fire and water are both, friend and foe.

In a California wildfire, a melted stream of metal, probably aluminum, from a burned vehicle.

In Iowa, water sweeps away people's dreams.

While it's nice to help people in China and Indonesia, don't forget the people here at home.

OMG - a logjam of houses! I didn't know that houses would float so neatly. So sad, you can still see lawn chairs and furniture on their decks waiting for someone to come relax. There certainly is devastation happening world-wide...

I can see my house from here.

And yours.

And the neighbor from six streets over.

The neighbors always did complain about those train tracks going right through their backyard!

This page has more pictures of the flood in Cedar Rapids and has more context than I've seen elsewhere.

my birthday was the 12th... i spent it filling sand bags and helping friends empty basements while standing in flood water half way up my calve.

most people don't realize how bad cedar rapids got...

all the bars i was going to go to were flooded, so i dropped to my knees and started yelling "no!! the liquor!"

Yeah Pb as it is coming right out from the stairs, (battery box).

I think most people realize how bad Cider Rapids got it. That's the city hall with the first three floors underwater that's shown on every news show..

Hm. I still think it's aluminum. The color seems more like the lighter color of aluminum than lead. And I've personally seen this kind of thing in the aftermath of a car fire. I picked up the cooled blob and it definitely had the weight of aluminum, not lead.

I'm pretty sure that is lead, too. I've cast a lot of bullets & it looks too light.

Be careful Bullit. I sure wouldn't want your job. I have a fear of burning

Too light in color unless casting pure, which wouldn't be the case with the impurities associated with an auto fire. That doesn't even take in account the frosting

Nope. You have misunderstood. It is aluminum because it is too light in color to be lead.

Argghhh. See how the voices in my head make me screw up. LOL

Ok. The cooled molten metal is likely aluminum based upon the color. I cast lead bullets at a 20:1 ratio, and the metal in the picture doesn't look like lead. This is especially true considering the impurities that would be present if it was lead from a battery comingled with other elements. Plus there is no sign of frosting such as would have occurred with the ground/pavement being a different temp.

Make sense now? Lord, I hope so.

ice chips. if you find yourself anyplace where you can't keep an icechip from melting in your hand, you're too close to the fire. get out and let us know you're ok.

Bullit - keep us informed - we want to know you are ok and whats going on. Be careful out there.

The Philly paper today, said they don't expect to have the Northern CA fires, completely under control for months.

Thanks guys. We just got a little more info tonight.. this thing is getting pretty big. Over 80 engines, 90 or so hand crews, 7 choppers, 7 planes, and over 1000 other personnel. We get to play with our big type IV engine for this one though.. eye level is about where the door handle is... 1000 gallon tank on this big ol girl:

Tomorrow evening we check in with IC, Incident Command, and get our orders, etc. So after tonight, I don't know exactly when I'll be back on here.. soon I hope, and def. with pictures. We might be doing some urban interface protecting houses and other structures.. we'll see though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPUCK

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanAhern

I wonder if we have sent any of our smoke jumpers or fire fighters to help? My wifes hair dresser is a Smoke Jumper.

I know NZ have sent a couple of crews and some much needed equipment including a water chopper.

I would imagine that US crews would be coming if they're not already here. There's usually a bit of quid pro quo. I know we usually send crews when you lot have fires.

ETA:

Quote:

US fire experts heading for Victoria
10/02/2009 9:18:00 AM
A contingent of senior US fire personnel is expected to land in Victoria within 48 hours after an SOS call from the Australian government.
About 35 American firefighting operation chiefs, aviation managers, planning section chiefs and specialists in land rehabilitation will fly to Australia.

"Australia and New Zealand have been wonderful neighbours and provided help in our time of need and we are happy to return that help," US National Interagency Fire Center spokesman Don Smurthwaite said.

Australia, New Zealand and US firefighting agencies have a close working relationship and have participated in exchange programs in recent years.

On the weekend Australian and US government officials held informal discussions about calling on American fire personnel.

A formal request for assistance is expected Monday.

It is expected once the formal request is issued it will take about 48 hours to have the US contingent on the ground in Australia.

The deployment will not include firefighters to be used on the fire fronts.

"The positions will be mostly leadership and supervisory in nature," Smurthwaite said.

"We won't be sending firefighters at this point."