My home town on the News!

[Dark One]

There was a huge fire in my town lastnight. Our largest building went up in flames. The smoke could be seen from neighbouring counties.

The Transfesa building was, until a few years ago, the largest open-plan building in Europe. It was used by the Whirlpool company (who make washng machines etc). My house is 1 1/2 miles away, and you could hear the explosions from there. A lot of the machines stored there went up. They're still not sure what caused it, but the building is a complete mess. Have a look at the news articles, and then look at some of the pics i took.

BBC News

Kent Messenger Newspaper



This is a shot from about a mile away, showing the plume of smoke from Paddock Wood industrial estate


This is a closeup shot form the same location


This is a shot from the south side of the railway


This is a closeup shot from the same location


This shot was taken from the industrial estate railway bridge, looking toward the train station


This is a shot form the foot of the railway bridge, and is as close as i was allowed to get

[Lucy]

Wow, that's one hell of a big fire! I have a few friends in Kent, I'll have to quizz them on it! Scary pics though - don't think I'd like to be that close (ok, so it's not that close, but still!)

[Elspeth]

Wow - that's amazing! Those are some incredible photos, Dark One.

[Swallow]

*hands Dark One a breathing mask and a carwash voucher* That's realy nasty black smoke, worst kind, the whole town is going to be stinking for days....

those are quite good photos tho, i love the contrast... ;D That second one is pretty cool, as is the first one...But the second one has a really good contrast, tis a pity the houses are out of focus, but still, tis nice....

[Roland]

Wow...Scary.,..

That first photo is really cool, really otherworldly...I don't quite know how to express it. May I pinch it to add to my personal collection?

[Dark One]

go for it.

The second photo was slightly out of focus cos the camera picked up on the trees in the foreground. I was trying to take pics quickly and then beat everyone else to the best spots. Spent about two hours racing around country lanes in my car. Was fun!

Fortunately the smoke drifted away from the main town. They had to evacuate the industrial estate though. They had police vehicles all over town in case the wind direction changed and they had to evacutate people quickly and close roads. Was quite exciting!

[Timm]

That reminds me of Target burning down here ;D
Except that was at night.

[Kaylan-R]

that is cool, and it must of been scary!

[Dark One]

Wasn't scary! It was fun! I guess i like danger...

[HeartoftheDarkness]

I have to say, that is so cool!

I love the first photo

[DragonMornir]

thats very cool... scarey but cool... i have firefighter friends and sometimes we chase fires....... naugty us lol

[Roland]

I got in trouble during the Canberra bushfires cos I ran around taking photos. OF course at the time I didn't realise how bad it was . But I got some great shots!!

[Dark One]

post some!

[Roland]

Actually, I can cos we have a scanner now. Tomorrow after my doom exam, I will I promise!

[Dark One]

The second pic has just been published in my local paper! Yay!

I'm famous now

[Kaylan-R]

Yay for you. It's cool being famous!!

I'm kinda famous in a way too. I've been in an ad and I have had my literature published too.
Yay for famousness!!!

[Roland]

OK Dark One, as promised:

This is from the top of Mt. Pleasant at about 1pm on the 18th Jan 2003, looking down on the centre of Canberra.


This is the parking lot of the local supermarket at 3pm on the same day


and this is a tree. I like trees.

[~Dani~]

Wow!! That must have been so scary!!

[Dark One]

Wow! That looks so cool!

Great photos. Thanks for posting them