Archive for October 17th, 2009
Skillman avenue weirdness
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Resplendent with autumnal glee, your humble narrator was enjoying an aimless amble. An avenue of approach from Astoria to the debris choked lanes of the veiled Newtown Creek, I’ll often walk down Skillman Avenue and marvel at the wonders of the Sunnyside Yard as I go. Just at the intersection of 47th avenue, I saw what appeared to be an enormous Latte which was spilled into the street.
Conjecture and wild fancy filled my mind, as I thought of legendary creatures– with their cries of “Tekeli-li“. Closer examination though, revealed a different and far more logical origin for the odd phenomena.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
When the commanding officers of the FDNY are met with the challenges presented by a vehicle fire, their ultra modern methodologies and techniques call for the application of firefighting foam in lieu of water- which would merely spread the conflagration.
The foam extinguishes the various petroleum fed sources of the flame, and coats non burning components in a cooling embrace which suppresses further ignition. The foam spreads its expanding mass out and over any flammable material which might have escaped the vehicle and might be pooling nearby. When the foam dries out, the pictured crunchy residue remains.
For more on firefighting foam, check out the ubiquitous wikipedia reference here.
And it does look like a giant spilled Latte.
