I think it is in the north part of town somewhere because it sounded as if the sirens went that way.
North Penn -
We didn't go see, but might later.
The trucks have all gone now, so I'm assuming it was a small grass fire.
It looked like a storage shed, but Once again, our fire dept was right there and took care of it.
We are so blessed to have such a responsible fire crew. Its getting a little weird though with all the fires in this one area!
Thats four within two blocks of each other!
I thought there was a building involved. I had been smelling the smoke for awhile before the fire whistle went off and it didn't smell like grass fire. Do you know what caused the fire?
It was Rob Cookson's big storage quonset building.
He was burning the grass off back there and it got out of control and caught the building on fire. He didn''t have sufficient water to get it back under control and it did what fire does.. It went crazy.
Rochelle and I just got home from Wichita awhile ago.. and the guys just told us a little bit, so I don't know many details.
I imagine when Danny gets online tomorrow he will be able to fill us in on the details.
It was a small grass fire that burnt into an unused storage shed. The dark smoke was made from the aluminum on the sides of the shed as it melted off I presume. It was contained quickly and no other property was affected.
A good lesson to people wanting to burn grass and even leaves around wood structures, you can never have too much water on-hand!!
When I am burning grass or small brush I fill the 1 gallon pump up garden sprayer and keep it with me. Spraying a fine mist from it will cool the fire or keeps it from getting away from you.
Well, that is what Rob had.. and it wasn't enough.. :o Fire just took off and that fine spray didn't even touch it.
I think that is what Danny meant when he said make sure you have enough water..
I try to have my garden hose handy with extra hose connected if I have to ..
Another fire last night. Jean Gray's house in the southwest part of town. Don't know how much damage or anything else yet. This happened right after the earlier rain, etc. and the siren sounding surprised me as I didn't think there could be any tornadic activity then. My phone rang immediately and Janet says "no tornado. A house fire." Good to have a daughter like that.
Daughter walked down to the site of the fire and she says it is a total loss. Hopefully, our talented Cookson reporter can tell us more about it later.
Another fire today. This one is out east by the highway, the residence of Vincent Nelson. Son-in-law says it was lightening.
ouch 2 fires in one day
Did they get the Nelson fire put out quickly?
I don't know. Why do you ask?
I've known Vince for many years, and was hoping their house did not receive severe damage. His wife's health is bad, too - I think she is in a wheelchair.
No structure damage. They got it in time before it flared up .. ( I think)
I''ll get that oldest Cookson boy on it tomorrow and he can give us the scoop... LOL
Sorry about the delay in information.....Busy weekend followed by busy fire day with low sleep!!
Fire #1--Residence of the late Waldo and Jean Gray. Rear addition of house was engulfed in flame upon arrival, fire then burned through main structure but was contained before burning further and causing structure to collapse. Many of the contents had already been removed, as John Gray is planning an auction and trying to inventory some of the items in the garage. Nobody got hurt and that is the good part. Bad news is our town lost another house :(
Fire #2--Lightning struck a transformer behind Toot's and sent a power surge to the home of Vince Nelson. Electrical damage and typical things associated with lightning strikes. No fire luckily, but some cable tv and telephone work!!
Thanks Honey..........
((Mama can still make those boys "hop to it" )) ;D
occasionally.. :-\
We left Howard about 45 minutes after the siren went off.
Turning north at Chestnut and Adams, it looked like one fire truck and an emergency vehicle with red lights on were stopped on Chestnut between Adams and Jefferson. Was anything going on there? This could have been my night vision playing tricks on me since John Gray's house is a couple blocks further south.
Gee Whiz, Wilma, Janet did not call me and tell me there was no tornado.
We were all headed to the basement when the siren stopped.
We had a family reunion on Sunday and then visited until bedtime. We were unaware there was a tornado watch but I was sure it was a tornado when the sirens went off based on the extremely ugly weather we saw on the way in.
We were planning on leaving at 7:00 am but after the excitement, we decided to leave early.
Do you mean that Howard is too exciting for you to take?
Yeah, we got out of Dodge quick!
Waldo, Janet calls me when the siren sounds because she knows I will call her if she doesn't. They have a scanner and I don't and I am not heading for cover until I am sure there is a reason. She hadn't been home from work very long and hadn't gone to bed yet.
Danny, thanks for the reporting. I like having the facts and not the embellished version.
Is there a difference in the tornado sirens and the fire sirens in town? Back home, they would post the differences in the sirens in the paper every-so-often.
Wilma, yes I understand.
I was just pulling Janet's chain.
I would also like to know if there is a difference in sirens.
A note of sorts.
Waldo Gray's house at the end of Chestnut has/had a shelter meant for taking cover during a tornado.
He built it after the 1955 tornado wiped out Udall. Apparently some hit in Elk County at that time, also.
There is no difference in the sirens. If it continues to sound, it is a tornado; if it sounds for just a moment or two, it is a fire in town. It also sounds one night a month for the fire meeting. I can't remember if it is the first or second Wednesday.
So, one could assume...
One long blast = Tornado (does it sound again for an "all clear"?)
Multiple short blasts = Fire
One short blast = Fire meeting
I don't know if it sounds again for an all clear. Not having been here during an actual tornado warning.
Not that it matters to me... can't hear the sirens 8 miles in the country anyway! Just helping educate the masses (or the forum masses, anyway).
Well I can tell you, Cody, Jason and I were in the basement when those two alarms went off. It is scary. Especially for someone from Buffalo, NY who has never had to worry about that before. We only had snow in NY. Cody is afraid of the thunder, he runs to us everytime it happens. The alarm at night was especially scary because it woke me up, and there was the bad weather. I ripped Cody out of his crib and ran downstairs. The other one was scary because of the weather but not as much as the other one. I was wondering if the alarms were different or not, so that is good to know.
Yeah, your snow was very predictable....every winter you all knew you all would have tons of it. Tornadoes happen every summer, but they are hit or miss so they are scary. I'm always still amazed that more people don't have storm cellars anymore. Even Al is getting a little nervous about our trip. There is severe weather forecast today for exactly where we will be going in two weeks, after we leave Howard.
Just before 7:30 this morning, the fire siren sounded again, just for a short while. Was there a fire or was it a malfunction? There was also a glitch in the electricity about that time. My usual source for this is not available today.
I was wondering the same thing (fire or malfunction) 'cos I never did hear the trucks go out
The dispatcher came across the scanner and said the power surge had caused the alarm to sound.
The fire siren just sounded again here in Howard. Does anyone know where or if it is?
Danny said it was an oven fire. It was at the house that Al & Juanitta Eubanks used to live in. Right across the street north of Richard McLeans house.... and on the corner south of the Hud Houses. They got it under control and out.