Cindy and I were having lunch at our favorite SUBWAY, when we noticed a van that pulled over about 50 yards away in the Pizza Hut. We noticed the van because it was smoking really bad. Huge billows of black smoke continued to rise from under the hood. I saw this guy run across the street with a fire extinguisher in his hands to help the lady who just ran out of the smoking van. When I saw him with the extinguisher, it hit me – “He’s going to open the hood of the van and try to put this fire out.”
The one thing you should NEVER do is raise the hood of a vehicle you think is on fire. The sudden rush of oxygen can cause it to explode. I bolted as fast as I could from my table and ran toward the guy yelling, “Don’t open the hood!” and got there just in time. He dropped to the ground and started using the extinguisher from under the frame. By this time, the hoses on the van had melted and pieces of rubber were hitting the ground. Then gas started leaking into the flames as the remaining hoses were destroyed. At that point, I was afraid the entire vehicle was going to explode. I started yelling for everyone to get back.
The fire department arrived and quickly went to work. Within seconds, they had everything under control. It was pretty awesome but I really felt sorry for the lady who just lost her van. She was on her way to get it fixed at a repair shop that was only about a block away.
On another subject, Joanie arrives this evening so we can spend the next five days working on the Brick Wall. We’re trying to get it all polished up so we can get it into the show this fall. We’ll be working on several other routines as well but the Wall is the priority.