Halon, sailors!
By adamg - Tue, 06/10/2008 - 2:45pm.
Channel 4 reports three people got doused with halon this afternoon at the Hess Station the station diagonally across from the Hess station on Washington Street when the fire-extinguishing system broke.
Dear Channel 4: Your story says the accident was at the Hess station (in West Roxbury), but your photos clearly show it was at the no-name-ish station next to the car wash on the other side of the street, which one could argue is still West Roxbury - the one that charges less because they only take cash.
what's wrong with this?
5339 Washington St
gmaps may be wrong... or the address is wrong. pictured is the hess station across the street (which is in west roxbury)... but, if you go down a few clicks from where it puts you, across the street is Kings (which is 5339 washington street) it's clearly right across the dedham line)
not sure if the address is wrong or if gmaps is wrong...
either way, minor detail.
Yeesh
The Channel 4 story calls it the Hess station, but you're right, their photos show that station next to the car wash across the street. I guess I'm just an old text guy; I don't do pictures :-). So they're still wrong, at least in text.
The Herald says nine people were doused in the stuff at the West Roxbury station, and they quote a Boston Fire spokesman - although they add the gas station has two addresses: 5339 Washington St in West Roxbury and 2 Washington St. in Dedham.
So Channel 4 still gets demerits for getting the name of the station wrong (and therefore messing up losers like me).
kings
king gas station (the property) is actually half in west roxbury, half in dedham... so, everyone wins (except for channel 4!!!)
Good Globe headline
On a hot day, a blizzard of foam at a gas station.
Not Halon....
As someone who once had to spec out a fire suppression system for a datacenter, that ain't no Halon. For starters, Halon has been prohibited for almost a decade or more because it's an ozone depleter.
Halon (or this halon) is a gaseous suppression agent, and doesn't contaminate anything (which is part of the point behind a gaseous fire suppression system.) Its biggest problem (aside from destroying the ozone) would be that it will displace oxygen and Halon is mildly toxic to breathe.
Halon would never be used in an open space at a gas station. It works by inhibiting combustion, which requires it reach a certain concentration and stay there to prevent re-ignition. That's impossible in an open space (in fact, depending on the gas you're using, the room may have to be very carefully sealed.) That's why they use chemical or foam suppression systems as gas stations.
Well, it did happen today
So Channel 4 at least got that right.
Still a mess at 6:30
When I drove by.
A couple of Dedham (yes) cruisers, a firetruck (couldn't see where from, and couldn't really look without possibly getting run into by the charter bus on my tail), and various cleanup workers in among the police tape, which also blocked off the car wash.