Heavy damaged pickup MVA WB 44 at 225 MM

I rolled up on a vehicle accident on September 25th after hearing sirens, and spotted a pickup truck in the median of westbound 44 just west of the James K. Schatz Memorial Bridge over 44…Sullivan Fire and MoBap EMS were on scene with several troopers and I still do not know what happened here but this pickup was severely damaged on the front passenger side…

Semi Trailer Fire EB 44 at 227 MM August 25th

Around 9 am on August 25th, I heard Sullivan Fire Department dispatched to a semi trailer fire on EB I-44 at the 227 mile marker, so I took the North Service Road and spotted heavy brown and white smoke from a mile away….

and was pulling up to park seconds later, Sullivan Firefighters were working the fire and struck a first alarm, summoning St Clair Fire Department to the scene as well…

…and I spotted a good friend of mine, Michael Richardson with Franklin County Sheriffs Office, on the scene assisting with traffic control as well…

Firefighters were shorthanded but doing great work at the scene, they were having a difficult time getting into the trailer to the seat of the fire, so Jacob Dace started cutting his way into the trailer with the K12 saw….

and soon firefighters were again attacking the fire….

…and about 15 min later, additional Sullivan firefighters arrived with manpower and water, and St Clair arrived as well….

…and the fire inside the trailer flared up once again….

Sullivan Fire Chief Eric called for Chuck`s Towing to respond and Chuck`s son Louis, showed up with their newest fleet wrecker and assisted with removal of the load of freight to assist in fire extinguishment…Louis is quite talented in removing freight and vehicles both…

Great work by all !!

This is a Good Reason Why You Don`t Run From Police…

Was listening to the scanner when I heard Sullivan PD dispatch officers to the median crossover just west of Sullivan on I-44, to assist Crawford County Deputies and Rolla PD who were in pursuit of a suspect eastbound from Rolla at a high rate of speed…I alerted Jim Bartle that Sullivan was going to deploy tire spikes…they apparently did so under the Jim Schatz Memorial Bridge just west of the West Overpass and on doing so, the suspect`s pickup skidded in a long slide to an abrupt stop after taking down a tall steel light post and striking several other things….EMS and Sullivan Fire Department responded to assist, but by the time they arrived, the male driver was in custody….

You can see the skid marks above and the bridge way back in the background…there was a female suspect riding with the driver…I would bet they got more than they bargained for….could have ended alot worse than it did…crime never pays or ends well…

Neat Visitor to my Worksite

About a week after the lightning strike at work, I was picking up trash all over the golf course and then took it to the dumpster in the lower end of the parking lot. I opened the lid after hearing some noise inside, and discovered a young little raccoon inside the bottom at the back of the dumpster wall, looking about as frightened of me, as I was not knowing what I was about to find inside. 🙂

He sure was a cutie, had to take a few photos of him before going to get something to help him get out of there before the trash company folks came to empty the dumpster into their trash truck. Didn`t want to think about that type of ride for him…

I enlisted the assistance of a co-worker and we placed a pallet inside the dumpster that he could climb up out of the dumpster later on.

Walnut Tree Struck by Lightning July 20th

At the golf course where I work, we had one of our stately Walnut trees struck by lightning one day while we were working, and during the strike, we discovered later, a black snake had apparently been at the base of the tree and was instantly charged and fried by the strike…so far the tree has not died and still stands at the edge of the fairway….

Garage Fire at Bourbon July 19th, 2020

I was at home listening to the scanner when I heard Cencom kick Bourbon out for a Garage Fire on Bohenkamp Road, and knowing how close that is to Sullivan Fire Department`s district line, I knew Sullivan Fire would be enroute shortly. I drove to the location taking the back way in and soon spotted a column of heavy black smoke, parking in a small field with a few firefighters who drove direct to the call and a Crawford County deputy friend. As I approached Bourbon`s fire trucks, I saw firefighters stretching out their hoselines to make a defensive attack and a small car parked in front of a totally engulfed two car garage….

…and Chief Daniel Whatley manning a large diameter hoseline with a portable deck gun attached….

It was a few minutes before help arrived from Cuba and Sullivan Fire Districts and Bourbon`s firefighters made a great knockdown on the fire in that amount of time…

Fires 2020-0719 Garage Fire 664 Bohenkamp Rd Bourbon AVI 63

Fires 2020-0719 Garage Fire 664 Bohenkamp Road Bourbon AVI 91

It was about this time that Sullivan Pumper 854 arrived with Captain Dave Konys and his crew, and they entered the structure shortly to knock down remaining fire inside the building…

As I was leaving, I spotted Bourbon`s new tanker parked just off the driveway in the woods and snapped this photo of it…

Fireworks Show Sullivan July 2nd, 2020

I apologize for not keeping up on my blog site, didn`t realize til today that I had let it go for so long…will double down on my efforts to keep up more currently with it from here forward. I hope to retire next year and then should have more free time to devote to my other websites.

I set up on the north side of I-44 once again and shot from one of the entrances to Atlas and it worked out for me once again. This year I was able to include the full moon in my images….

Fireworks Sullivan 2020-0702 Finale AVI 86