Fire in Manchester

There was a large fire in Manchester today; well, specifically Salford. Looking out my window at about 3:30PM, I saw the area of the city north of me blanketed by a massive plume of dark black smoke. I climbed up to the roof of my office building to get a better view, but couldn't really see anything clearly.

The fire raged until about 4:30 or so, when it seemed to die down. Upon investigation, it turns out to have been caused by an explosion in an industrial tanker vehicle. Still, it a pretty crazy thing to see. I wasn't at home when the Hamilton Plastimet Fire went on, so I've never actually seen anything like this.

In the end, it looks like nobody was hurt or killed, though one person is still missing, as of the last news report. And of course, it thankfully has nothing to do with terrorism. After this past week's airport-related fun and games, everyone is a bit on edge. No doubt, had this fire been the result of another terror plot, we could have all but said goodbye to our civil liberties for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, in the end, all is well. Though I haven't seen any official report regarding the extent of the damage in today's explosion and fire, it certainly seems to have been contained fairly quickly. All in all, though an eerie thing to witness, it could have ended much, much worse.