Pipeline

So Kate and I are planning on joining ShellyinSeattle and the Monkey King for brunch at Salty's (Where the Monkey King has won Brunch for Life - yes, its one of those disgusting stories about good fortune of friends). And I was planning on going into the office briefly in the morning to get some files to work on this evening at home.

Then I hit the police blockade on Lind Avenue.

Lind Ave (where the company is located) was shut down by a squad car with its bubble-gum lights flashing. I jog one street to the north, and find another squad car - Renton Police. The officer there informs me that there has been a pipeline fire and that the road is shut down all the way to Grady, which translates into - no one is getting to my office, which is in the middle of the sealed-off area. There was no plume of smoke or other evidence of a big fire - just the cop cars and in the distance, fire engine lights.

Let me explain - about two complexes south of the WotC/Hasbro offices is the distribution hub for the Olympic Pipeline. Here's where the oil and other flammible materials come down from refineries in Annacortes to the north. Its company has been having trouble since the pipeline breach and explosion that killed several people a few years back, but its main effect on the local area has been the oversized double-length tanker trucks that are normally found on Lind. That and there is a fire station practically across the street from the distribution hub.

The news has been silent on this one - Northwest Cable News, the local 24/7, is dedicating all its resources to the opening of the Seattle Public Library downtown, and the nets have been horribly quiet as well. My question is - when did this fire start? Was it just this morning, or perhaps it was tied into the mystery noise from yesterday morning? Or about midnight last night, wheN I was kept awake laying in bed, listening to a single helicopter swoop and return, swoop and return, like a mosquito?

More later, if I get any information on this,