HazMat

Tonight was our monthly drill night for the fire department. We've done some good stuff in the recent past which has made all of us feel a little more . . . confident I guess is the right word . . . in things like dealing with structure fires, accidents, wild land fires (for instance, I now know how to climb into a personal fire shelter if I'm out on a wild land fire and get trapped in a less than ideal situation) and the like.

Tonight we went to the local fertilizer distribution center. The good news is that everything they've got does not react negatively to water, so we don't have to worry about spraying water on the fire and causing a chemical reaction that would .... oh, I don't know .... BLOW UP. That's the good news.

The bad news is that they have one chemical in there that, should there be a fire, would generate noxious fumes that you really don't want to breathe. We were given two pieces of advice: 1) should we respond out there to a fire, stop at my church on the way down and pack up (not what you're thinking ..... stop, and put on our air packs since my church is on the road to the warehouse and a decent distance from it); and 2) take note of the wind and if it's blowing towards town, issue an evacuation notice.

Minor bad news: they also have assorted fuel tanks, propane tanks and other things generally not healthy to humans and cows.

I told a friend tonight, "If you hear on the news that Sheridan is gone, it might not be because of the volcano."

This is one of two places in town where we really don't need any fires.