A day at the NY Fire Academy: new meaning to the word HOT

MONTOUR FALLS, New York, USA - Tuesday morning I spent three very hot hours wandering about a fire demonstration area at the New York State Fire Academy. It was a training for 170  firefighters - and others - about how to deal with propane emergencies.

In some cases, the demos were about putting out a fire, in others, it was about how to burn off propane if a tank is leaking. Yup, can't let that stuff just fall on the ground.

And there were lots of demonstrations about the how to safely transfer propane from tank to tank with a minimum of problems.

As part of the demonstrations, the New York State Propane Gas Association (yup, NYPGA and they do play a lot of golf, too, I understand) hired a photo company to take pix of the goings on. They did so from an aerial camera, slung beneath a small blimp.

Very cool.

The temperature was in the 80s, with 95 percent humidity. And when they lit off the propane for the demonstrations? Add 20 degrees. Still, very interesting to see it. And I have a lot more respect for the power contained in that little propane tank I have attached to my barbecue.

The overall result (for me) was a story and photo(s) in the Elmira Star-Gazette this morning. Two photos ran in the print edition, but four more are up online.

LINK: Star-Gazette, Propane Safety class

And I put together a short video: