Day 480: Explosion!

[eve_prime]

D's fine, and probably his coworkers are generally fine too, but he came home in a state of great animation and told me all about it, starting with, "Now, don't freak out." The place he's working has three large containers, pressure cookers, and one of them had alcohol among its ingredients, and it apparently overheated, and there was an explosion and a fire! He was about 5-6 meters away from it, much closer than many of the other workers. First he heard a large clattering sound, then he felt a rush of hot air - liquid had spilled onto the floor beside him, which then burst into flames! He then dashed considerably further away. Meanwhile, a particularly gonzo coworker (D. says during the breaks he goes outside and revs up the engine in his car) dashed forward and unplugged the machine, while using two fire extinguishers allowed them to contain the fire. Three of his coworkers went to the hospital to make sure their lungs were okay. D. could have gone but stayed and worked instead, telling me that "after an hour, it no longer hurt to exhale."

He told S. that the upside was that he drank more water than usual today. I disagreed - the real upside was getting this story to tell, which I've now told J, my friend T, and all of you.

Tomorrow's probably his last day there (and surely it will be extra safe, what with today's experience), and on Monday he'll start his new job as a Bakery Packager at Safeway.