Fire Prevention
A major fire broke out on Tuesday 13th March 2012 in Boston back bay area when the four alarm, 115000 volt electrical transformer in a power substation sparked fire at 6.30 in the evening. The fire was reported inside of a garage near Hilton Hotel on Scotia Island. The fire was caused by an unusual catastrophic connector failure between a transformer and transmission system, according to senior spokes person of the company.
The whole area was affected by the fire. The 390 room Hilton hotel had to be evacuated, because of the heavy smoke. The guests had to take to the streets and the people on the road had to take alternate routes as the streets were closed in the surrounding area. The residents in the neighboring buildings were asked to seal their windows as there was quite a bit of smoke. About twenty thousand customers remained without power the next day, since the only way to extinguish the roaring fire was to stop power to it, and when the power was killed, it affected the entire neighborhood. The subway stations on the MBTA’s green line were closed, disrupting the service.
The question arises is what if residents were affected by the smoke which according to some smelled like chemical. Even if the smoke was not toxic, it is never good to inhale smoke, because it may damage body by lack of oxygen, and gases that are byproducts of fire.
Moti an immigrant from Iran lost running a specialty restaurant in this area had to close her business because she had to throw away about $ 15000 worth of foodstuff because of the power failure. Her claims of insurance were denied although she had paid $ 24000 in premiums because she was unaware of the rule that she shd wait for 72 hours before opening the restaurant.
NSTAR should find out whether the current staff knew the system installed years back. Also, whether the environmental issues were kept in mind.
Article 2
An accident on the Florida highway interstate 75, has taken 10 lives when a line of cars and trucks collided becausethere was zero visibility due to fog and smoke. According to survivors, it was impossible to see any thing beyond one foot. The cause is not yet determined, but it is suspected that the smoke could be due to a fire in the adjoining bushes. The bushfire may have been intentional but no one could say for sure. In fact the highway was kept closed at one point because of the bush fire. But reopened without ascertaining the visibility quotient. Five cars and six tractor/trailers were involved and some caught fire. The photographs showed twisted and burned out vehicles, which were all over the pavement. The atmosphere was engulfed in smoke. Some vehicles were crushed under other heavy vehicles and mangled, and charred bodies were seen inside. According to Florida state police the wreckage was strewn for nearly a mile in both directions. The people from nearby town of Gainesville said they could hear the cars and trucks hitting each other but could not see a thing; such thick was the fog and smoke. 18 people were treated at an area hospital. All six lanes covering the whole of Florida were closed for survey. This caused further misery because this highway is the arterial way that connects Florida to rest of the country.
The question here is the attitude adopted by the road authorities. Why was the cause of earlier smoke not determined in time so that traffic would have been diverted early on, since this is such an important highway connecting the state with rest of the world? Why the road was kept open for traffic when the fog and smoke had not cleared enough?
Sources:
1. Kamp J. (2012). Back Bay Blaze leaves thousands of Bostonians in the dark. 14 March 2012. Retrieved from web. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577281453725481374.html
2. Florida Highway pileup leaves 10 dead. 30 January 2012. Retrieved from web. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/30/florida-highway-pileup-crash-brush-fire
