Friday, June 7, 2013

My First Fire Chase of 2013

After work today at mom's place I was at Thai-rrific in Atascadero getting us dinner and heard a siren approach the intersection of El Camino Real and Curbaril as I got out of my car in the parking lot. As I walked in the door I noticed it was AFD Truck 7545 (the big one with the aerial monitor that squirts a master stream from above) headed eastbound on Curbaril having apparently just gotten off the 101 Freeway. It continued eastbound and I continued onwards to pick up my red curry fried rice with chicken. I retrieved our dinner and then left in my car eastbound on Curbaril wondering where that big lug of a fire apparatus gone. Since I heard no other sirens while I was at the restaurant I assumed the call was medical in nature and that the usual use of Engine 7592 from Station #2 was replaced by the 7545 unit due to repairs or other.

I got back to mom's place off of Curbaril near the railroad tracks and she immediately asked me if I had seen what had driven through her neighborhood Code 3 minutes before I returned as she had been "indisposed" at the time and missed seeing it. I told her what it was and that I was surprised it had driven as far east as east of her house as that seemed to me to be the cover area of Station #1. I dismissed it and we proceeded to have dinner in front of the television and saw on the local news that there had been a robbery in Atascadero today (wow, another serious crime following the recent murder of an AHS grad).

Soon we heard another siren rolling down Curbaril eastbound so I got up and checked and low and behold it was that Truck 7545 again (or so I thought). I assumed at that time that it had returned to station from its previous call rather soon after I saw it and now was being called out to mom's general neighborhood for another call  in rather quick succession.

Near the end of dinner we then heard Air Attack 340 fly overhead. I was still in denial anything was going on of interest and assumed it was simply passing over en route to or from a fire call elsewhere. Nonetheless, the sound of its engines is like Pavlov's dogs to mom and I being life-long fire chasers from a three-generation California fire chasing family. I went out onto her driveway and immediately noticed the aircraft orbiting above and so I walked down her driveway to the street and immediately noticed smoke to the left which is northeast. A little closer examination revealed that there was a fire with dark smoke in what appeared to be the Salinas Riverbed up near the Highway 41 bridge.

I immediately elected to go check it out and see if I could take any images that would be blog-worthy. I offered to take mom with me but she declined as she was still finishing up her dinner so I went alone. I took Sycamore around Pine Mountain from Curbaril to get a closer look and soon realized this was a structure fire in the Sycamore Industrial Park adjacent to the river and south of the bridge. Below are images I took immediately upon arriving the first time and others from a second visit to the fire after I went back and picked up mom following a lull in the fire which tricked me into believing it was over before it actually was.

As it turned out that second truck I saw roar through mom's neighborhood on Curbaril was a second such unit and in particular it was mutual aid from the City of Paso Robles which also has one in its arsenal. The fire turned out to be burning in the rear-most building of the Sycamore Industrial Park on the east side of Atascadero in the shadow of Pine Mountain. This building housed a fiberglass manufacturing plant which was completely destroyed.

Atascadero F.D. Truck 7545 directing its master stream through a skylight with Paso Robles F.D. Truck 8141 preparing to do the same.
Paso Robles F.D. Truck 8141 (left) directing its master stream onto the fire while Atascadero F.D. Truck 7545 (right) does the same.
Paso Robles F.D. Truck 8141 continues to direct its master stream on an apparently worsening fire at this point while Atascadero F.D. Truck 7545 takes a break.
Paso Robles F.D. Truck 8141
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

7 comments:

  1. lets see here you go telling the story of chasing this fire and end up talkin smack against a people and lifestyle you know nothing about. didnt learn much in english class, did ya. stick to the story.

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  2. Dear Brave "Anonymous",

    The Molochs became part of the story by virtue of their clubhouse's proximity to the fire. I realize you Molochs fight hard to not be characterized as an OMG (Outlaw Motorcycle Gang). However, the FBI says you are and the FBI has more credibility with me than some "anonymous" guy with poor grammar telling me I didn't learn much in English class. Why don't you employ a different strategy and explain to me how the FBI is wrong and the Molochs are merely a fraternal organization on two wheels as you would probably have me believe?

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  3. Hey fuck your story fuck you fuck your mom to I'm a SANTA MARIA MOLOCH and my name is KEITH you sound like a bored little bitch that lives at home with your mom keep my fucking club name out of your bitch mouth you won't be told again fuck you laim.

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  4. Dear "Keith",

    Thus you confirm and reaffirm Molochs are thugs and part of a criminal sub-culture that is rightly on the FBI's "watch list". Who is the bored little bitch here? Surely not the fearsome Moloch with nothing better to do than troll on the same blog post comment thread nearly a year later. Now who between us most likely lives with their mother? You should probably stick to just fapping online and not trolling and trying to articulate your vapid cogitations amongst your betters. However, on the outside chance somebody henceforth sucker punches me now the FBI and CA DOJ and County DA know where to come looking first, you dolt.

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  5. MOLOCHS are men we don't sucker punch anyone all we do is ride our bikes and probably your wife that explains your anger towards my club not everything goes straight to violence kim ive simply made it clear to keep my clubs name out of your bitter mouth

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  6. "Keith",

    YOU are the one with the bitter mouth here and this thread has already gone way beyond the actual relevance of my passing comment on this blog. Apparently, you are anti-American and anti-Free Speech which is fine but you should at least own it and as representative of your gang you thus suggest the Molochs share your views on American freedom of thought and freedom of speech. I have a right to not be thrilled your club house is in my mother's neighborhood and likewise be disappointed it was not the involved structure and to mention it here. It is YOU who is actually putting your club's name out there with a bitter mouth by carrying on here like a child. You are making much ado about nothing which is your right (which I respect) but it seems to me only one of us here is actually doing your club a disservice in the public domain and that is YOU! You also seem to be confused about your role in the big picture and are actually telling me what to do which is quite bizarre actually. Go ride your bike and enjoy life on the Central Coast and be happy instead of a bitter little man trolling the internet spoiling for a fight and potential law enforcement problems given you have made threats on this thread.

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  7. Dear "Keith",

    So here's the deal: this afternoon I was out walking my dogs and praying as I am wont to do whenever I walk/hike. Amongst the myriad of other things which entered my thoughts was our ongoing little "disagreement". As I pondered upon the nature of it and tried to see it your way I surely did NOT see you in a more sympathetic light. However, I did come to realize we BOTH are acting like petty, quarrelsome proudful stubborn little children here and are making fools of ourselves before Man & God. My original comment which while on the surface was much less than you have made it out to be was nonetheless uncharitable and unchristian which is a failure on my part. On your part, you have acted like a jackass here yourself so neither of us comes across looking especially good. God will never pat either of us on the back for how we have acted. I take full ownership of what I have done both before God and now Man. What you do with your half of this is entirely up to you. I fear no man but I do fear God and someday must see Him face-to-face and account for the things I have done in my life as we ALL will someday surely do. This has not been one of my more sterling demonstrations of God's Kingdom on Earth so I have now owned my shit. A more Christian approach to this on my part would have been to have not wished there had been any fire burning anybody's building and simply addressed what DID burn and not what did not burn. You should have simply ignored me. I have removed references to your fraternity and will leave this comment thread in place until you have acknowledged receipt of same and then I shall delete said comment thread as it currently stands. Perhaps we shall someday meet on the Other Side under more charitable circumstances.

    Kim

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