Non-driving suck!

[windandwater]

Or maybe that should be: Non-sucky driving? Hmmmm.

Anyway, yes, I am home! And I got gas and everything and didn't take FOREVER (rolled into the garage almost precisely at 6pm). WHICH IS AMAZING SINCE THERE'S A DAMN FIRE AND THE FREEWAY SHUT DOWN.

See, when I got out of the library, I saw A BIG BLACK BILLOWING CLOUD rather nearby and stopped to stare at it. I figured it had to be some building on fire, since there isn't much brush in downtown Riverside to catch fire. Then I got into my car and onto the freeway, and once there, realized the fire is on the damn freeway. Not literally, but close enough that the 60 was backed up WAY before the onramp to it. Luckily I managed to get off the freeway at the last street exit (Spruce), since from the distance, I thought the fire was on the other side of the freeway from me.

No, I was wrong. The fucking fire WAS ON SPRUCE. The street clogged up about two blocks before where the actual building was (industrial/warehouse type area) and I could see the lights of the fire engines and stuff. I took a quick right the first chance I could, figuring that I could follow the construction detours onto the 215. Thank god I did. Even with the stop lights and busy afterwork street traffic, once I got onto the 215 at University, the whole damn freeway was empty.

*___________*

I figured they must've blocked or shut down the eastbound 215 (where I was) because of the fire, and the westbound 215 was jam-packed with cars. I felt sorry for them because they'll be stuck there for at least an hour, while I zipped down the empty lanes at 80mph.

This almost makes up for all the suckiness I've been feeling lately.

Oh, and I took pictures on my cellphone!


EDIT...

Uhm. The fire was WAY bigger than I thought. Damn, I was lucky I got past it.




The first two pictures are the fire from the freeway, before I exited onto Spruce. The next three pics are while I was on Spruce, driving straight towards the fire. Check out the traffic! And the big black clouds.

Comments

[askerian]

Wow. Scary. ;.;

But yay for sera being home quickly. ^^

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's an industrial/chemical kind of fire, too, because of the area. Houses and building on fire usually have the more greyish smoke and don't burn as long, but this thing kept pumping out tons of those black clouds.

[luscious-sarah.livejournal.com]

Wow, that really is scary ;__; And I thought my driving adventure today was a fuckin' nightmare.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

*cuddles* I don't think you can top a fire unless there's some horrific crash right in front of you.

[luscious-sarah.livejournal.com]

*nods* Totally agreed. I don't think I've ever seen that kind of thing close up before. D:

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

It didn't seem that dangerous, since people were driving past the building like normal (well, after they got past all the traffic and the fire trucks). From what I could tell, it was one fire in one building, not a whole BUNCH of buildings going up.

[chibi-faolan.livejournal.com]

...



But I once drove past a body lying on the 10, before any emergency vehicles arrived... not a crash, just... like he'd tried to run across. Or someone pushed him out. T_T

And here's another cellphone offering:



(Not my cellphone; Da's at UCR this week... he says he didn't start it, though!)

Fire likes it here right now, though... MoVal High had a kid set a fire in the loo on the first day of summer school, and after the firemen put that out they discovered that in the meantime, an electrical short had started a fire -- in the wing where the comp labs are. Or... well, were.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

D:

Well, it's summer. But I didn't expect fire season to start so early. XP

[chibi-faolan.livejournal.com]

Well, it starts when it starts. But fires aren't obligated to keep to its schedule -- they don't have a union, see. They're independent contractors. Like hurricanes.

... what? Hey, at least I didn't say 'global warming' just off the cuff or anything! XD

'Sides, fire season applies to brush fires. Industrial waste combustion and electrical shorts know no season. Or if they do, they're not telling...

[windup-boytoy.livejournal.com]

I guess that's true. But it's still a bit of a shocker since I drove past this thing and it honestly didn't look that big or serious to me.

[chibi-faolan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding... it's a damn good thing you left when you did, though. Toxic fucking smoke, man... well, okay, normal air quality for Riverside, but still. XD

[d-copper.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is some smoke. O.o

On a tangent, your phone takes good photos. *is envious*

[windup-boytoy.livejournal.com]

XD And it's the free phone that came with my prepaid.

[missingwatch.livejournal.com]

wow. strange when you encounter something that then shows up on the news.

[windandwater.livejournal.com]

I figured it would show up on the local news since the freeways were shut down. But yeah. o_o I didn't know how BIG it was when I drove by it. Looking at my pictures then the article is kind of a shocker.