Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Thick smoke is billowing - a Haibun

                                                                                       Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas
Image: Typical Scene of Logs at a Timber Complex (here)
(the logs are being fed into the Plywood Mill to be peeled
off into rolls of veneer to be later made into plywood)

11 of 12 given words:
blade billow barge reflect shoulders
bridge filter wisp grain spin lock  

Blades of flames are shooting into the air in the distance.
Thick smoke is billowing. There is a rubbish dump there
that frequently burns so no one seems bothered. Suddenly
a dump truck driver barges in shouting incoherently
reflecting  a distress with his shoulders visibly shaking.
With the bridge blocking the view those seeing him are not
overly excired.. Then word filters in. A wisp of flaming
material is slowly igniting the pile of wood tailings outside
the plywood store. It is still a distance away from the store
but of concern to those at the dump as it is windy. Above
the store are  the cables connecting their building to the main
building. There should not be anything burning below the cable
Electricity will be cut off if the cable gets heated. It just takes
a grain of imagination to think that  the whole building where
they are in might even be engulfed in flames if they are not careful
It is not a spin that locks  their minds against reality but in a
worst case scenario it might happen. There is imminent danger!

danger lurks daily
if it is not your own turf
action still needed

Note: Based on a real-life episode in a Timber
Complex years ago. Fortunately corrective action
was taken and disaster was averted. As a long term
solution the cables were dismantled and the network
was later removed to a safer place
.
For Grace's at d"Verse's Haibun Monday #22
(Extra) Ordinary Days
and Brenda's Sunday Whirl Wordle #268

16 comments:

  1. Now that would be scary. It would be like working in a giant fire pit.

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  2. When fire catches in a the timber, it's indeed disaster... I feel it's walking very close to the precipice at times. Glad that it was only close but not really happened.

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  3. Excellnetly written but scary all the same.
    Yvonne.

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  4. Wow, that would be a scary spot to work. Just waiting to be burnt to a crisp. Glad it never happened.

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  5. I live on a commercial pine plantation. They remind us regularly to be very careful and to not have picnic fires.

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  6. Scary! So glad it all came out okay.

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  7. This is my favorite line: "Suddenly a dump truck driver barges in shouting incoherently"

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  8. I wouldn't want to be in that situation, yikes !!! Danger lurks daily indeed.

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  9. Interesting combination of two challenges.

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  10. I've seen sawdust catch light in a timber mill - it burned for months.

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  11. love the way you've written this....seems like a news story, a poem, and a particular insight all wrapped into one. scary stuff, though!

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  12. Great commentary. Yes, wake up!
    ZQ

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  13. Fire is very scary and often so unpredictable. I'm glad things worked out for the best in this circumstance, Hank.
    Gayle ~

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  14. Yikes!The first line of your haiku really hit me..."danger strikes daily". It really can at any moment in so many situations, as we go through our ordinary day.

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  15. "lurks"...that should have read, but my mind was thinking past the lurking!

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