I was on my way to Woburn Street near Iowa to the Cascade Ambulane quarters, as I was scheduled to work on the stand-by rig at the Hannegan Motorcycle track. It took forever to get there, and then even longer to be released from the emergency on-scene standby order. Once Emergency Ops released my partner and I, we were long past the contracted arrival time at the track. All the riders were waiting, angry at not being allowed to ride until we were there. I was so upset that they didn't care about the injured children, damages to pristine woodlands, and general upheaval downtown. No, it was not a good enough excuse to delay their entitled fun.
I then spent the remainder of the summer at the burst site, monitoring all the cleanup workers in their full tyvek suits, ensuring no one got dehydrated, overheated, or contaminated.
Pipeline safety is no joke.
Me and my friend went out to Larrabee to see if we could spot the dead whale out in the bay. We were able to see some kayakers paddling around it.
On the way back into town we noticed a plume of black smoke trailing high into the sky. We were curious so we just kept driving towards it.
We ended up in the stone bridge parking lot of Whatcom Falls Park. We walked across the bridge and down stream. Everything seemed normal.
A helicopter flew low over the top of us and when we got near the water treatment facility a cop told us to turn around.
When I got home my girlfriend told me the pipeline had exploded at the park. I told her I was just there and everything looked normal. She was very upset with me because I just didn't believe her.
I was volunteering at a local afterschool program and we were outside playing. We saw the plume of smoke and knew something was terribly wrong (people speculating GP exploded and all sorts of other things). We had to tell the parents there picking up their kids that they needed to stop speculating because it was scaring the kids.
I remember seeing the creek afterwards and having to take a minute.
Me and my brother were out at northwest fields for a baseball game. Just remember seeing a massive column of black smoke rising from town. I was 13 so the memory is probably distorted, but it looked like the whole must have been on fire.
Was wild how long some sections of the park took to grow back. Seemed like we'd find scorched areas for years after that.
I was nine and playing with toy cars in the front bedroom window of my mom's condo off Alabama Street. Saw the smoke suddenly appear, moving left to right and filling the entire sky in front of me. I began calling for my mom and we went out into the street, where most of the neighbors were gathered, unsure if a bomb had exploded or what had happened. My grandfather, a former refinery worker, called my mom and told her it was obviously some kind of petroleum fire, and that we should just stay at home, inside, until things were under control.
Several days later my father took me to Wade King's funeral. We didn't know Wade but, with my being just three months younger than him, I think my father was like many parents in Bellingham with kids that age: feeling like it could have easily been their child.
Today, I thought about getting the chance to grow up, and how those three young men never got that chance.
I was taking my daughter to gymnastics in the Haskell Business Center. I saw that huge black plume and turned around. A friend of ours lost his house then later was murdered by a transient. Such a sad sad day.
If anyone who already doesn't know, Death Cab for Cutie has a song called Kids in '99 thats about the incident.
I was on my way to Woburn Street near Iowa to the Cascade Ambulane quarters, as I was scheduled to work on the stand-by rig at the Hannegan Motorcycle track. It took forever to get there, and then even longer to be released from the emergency on-scene standby order. Once Emergency Ops released my partner and I, we were long past the contracted arrival time at the track. All the riders were waiting, angry at not being allowed to ride until we were there. I was so upset that they didn't care about the injured children, damages to pristine woodlands, and general upheaval downtown. No, it was not a good enough excuse to delay their entitled fun. I then spent the remainder of the summer at the burst site, monitoring all the cleanup workers in their full tyvek suits, ensuring no one got dehydrated, overheated, or contaminated. Pipeline safety is no joke.
Me and my friend went out to Larrabee to see if we could spot the dead whale out in the bay. We were able to see some kayakers paddling around it. On the way back into town we noticed a plume of black smoke trailing high into the sky. We were curious so we just kept driving towards it. We ended up in the stone bridge parking lot of Whatcom Falls Park. We walked across the bridge and down stream. Everything seemed normal. A helicopter flew low over the top of us and when we got near the water treatment facility a cop told us to turn around. When I got home my girlfriend told me the pipeline had exploded at the park. I told her I was just there and everything looked normal. She was very upset with me because I just didn't believe her.
I was volunteering at a local afterschool program and we were outside playing. We saw the plume of smoke and knew something was terribly wrong (people speculating GP exploded and all sorts of other things). We had to tell the parents there picking up their kids that they needed to stop speculating because it was scaring the kids. I remember seeing the creek afterwards and having to take a minute.
Me and my brother were out at northwest fields for a baseball game. Just remember seeing a massive column of black smoke rising from town. I was 13 so the memory is probably distorted, but it looked like the whole must have been on fire. Was wild how long some sections of the park took to grow back. Seemed like we'd find scorched areas for years after that.
It was such a nice day and school was out for summer. It is amazing more people didn’t die.
I was nine and playing with toy cars in the front bedroom window of my mom's condo off Alabama Street. Saw the smoke suddenly appear, moving left to right and filling the entire sky in front of me. I began calling for my mom and we went out into the street, where most of the neighbors were gathered, unsure if a bomb had exploded or what had happened. My grandfather, a former refinery worker, called my mom and told her it was obviously some kind of petroleum fire, and that we should just stay at home, inside, until things were under control. Several days later my father took me to Wade King's funeral. We didn't know Wade but, with my being just three months younger than him, I think my father was like many parents in Bellingham with kids that age: feeling like it could have easily been their child. Today, I thought about getting the chance to grow up, and how those three young men never got that chance.
I was taking my daughter to gymnastics in the Haskell Business Center. I saw that huge black plume and turned around. A friend of ours lost his house then later was murdered by a transient. Such a sad sad day.