Author Archives: jwj

Annual Clement Mineral Show & MVA on I-24 Western Kentucky June 2nd

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Onyx and I made a quick drive down to Marion, Kentucky early Saturday morning, June 2nd, to take in the Ben Clement Mineral Show and visit with friends at the museum as well. It was a nice drive down on a nice day, not too warm at all. We arrived about 10 am and as I walked up to the museum, I spotted Ed Clement in front and visited with him for a few minutes before he was whisked away…I then had a few minutes to talk to Tina and Sherry, then found Bill Frazer inside and sat down to visit with him a few minutes before Russ brought him a taco pizza. We visited a few minutes more while they both chowed down on the pizza. Bill brought me up to date on some issues with the mine and museum before I walked over to check out the show. One of the main reasons I wanted to drive down there was to visit with everyone, including Gary Griffith and his son Walter, who are always set up with a fluorite booth at the show…they are great people and also donate a dumptruck load of rocks full of fluorite chips for the kids to dig thru outside the museum building each year. Gary lost his Dad Guy Griffith to cancer earlier this year…I always enjoyed talking to his dad whenever I stopped by their place to purchase great Southern Illinois Fluorite from them. I found Gary and Walter just inside the door this time….

…this time they had not only a couple of tables covered in fluorite specimens and octohedrons they chipped out, but they had one end of one table covered with fluorite jewelry…made by Walter`s wife….I purchased a couple of them as well, very pretty stuff. They also had discovered some neat stuff in their calcite pile at home recently…they normally separate the calcites from the fluorite, so they have a good sized pile of it and were going thru it recently and discovered fluorite cubes on the calcites, so they cleaned it up and brought it to the show…I purchased a few of them as well…

I sat on a milk crate they had behind the table and visited with them for quite a while, found out his Dad had cancer which slowly got worse and the pain finally became too much for him to handle at home, he had to be hospitalized to bring it under control. Def gonna miss talking to him as I am sure Gary and his family are as well. Gary told me a few stories about his Dad helping him and Walter when they were mining and Sherry told me a few about Guy as well.

Eventually I drifted down into the old school gymnasium to check out the vendors there….found Phil Daly up on the stage where Alan Goldstein is usually set up…Alan didn`t make it to the show this year…so I visited with Phil a bit and purchased some of his Kentucky minerals from his collection, which he is selling off…..

The dealer on the right in the photo above, had a beautiful cluster of smokey quartz crystals on the corner of one of his tables, sitting on a paper that stated the cluster was found in the Old Leatherneck Mine of Arkansas…which was the old mine that later became the Arrowhead Mine, both of which are now closed to the public….

…estimated retail price of $ 2300 only….lol…and no, I did not purchase it, but it sure is pretty. ?

Around 1:30 pm, Onyx and I headed for home and soon after turning west on I-24, traffic began slowing down and a few miles down the road we discovered why….

…and no, it wasn`t due to road construction…take a closer look ahead on the EB side….…as we approached slowly, I thought at first it was two tractor trailer rigs involved in a serious accident, could see the medical transport helicopter in front of all traffic and then saw the firefighters scrambling around…

…and then as we finally drew alongside the scene, I could see it was a tractor trailer pulling a pup trailer, the pup trailer appeared to be rear-ended by a trash truck, and it appeared the driver of the trash truck required extrication by the Calvert City Fire Department, who has at least seven trucks on the scene and were helping with traffic control further back in the eastbound lanes that were backed up for miles…

…hopefully no one was seriously injured…thankfully we did not see anything else like that on the way home…this time I decided to drive straight in on I-64 and cross the Mississippi River by the Arch….

…always a great view….was great visiting with everyone in western Kentucky once again. Here are a few of those calcites with fluorite cubes attached, closer up….

 

City Park Restroom Fire May 21st

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During the late afternoon of May 21st, Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched to a structure fire at the Sunny Jim Bottomley Park near the City Pool…I arrived just prior to Pumper 854 with Damon Sumpter`s crew on board…

…someone had set the restrooms on fire and smoke was coming from both restrooms at the west end of the building…Pumper 814 with a few more firefighters arrived a few min later and crews quickly knocked down the fire……the videos show more detail….

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Van Fire Westbound I-44 at Radar Flats May 13th, 2018

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On my way home from work on May 13th, I came upon a van fully involved in heavy fire, parked on the shoulder in the middle of Radar Flats…which is about 2 miles east of the Highway 50/I-44 interchange…I started seeing heavy black smoke rising high in the air after passing the Hwy 100 Overpass and then traffic started slowing down for one lane to pass by the heavy flames…I noticed the family that had occupied it, walking up to a roadcut that was below the storage sheds on the north side of the interstate…they were dragging a small boat filled with their possessions…I figured someone had already called it in but I called 911 anyway and Franklin County Sheriffs Dispatch answered. I asked if they had the call on a van fire on wb I-44 in Radar Flats…the dispatcher asked where that was located…my first thoughts were like seriously dude ??  you dispatch for Franklin County and you don`t know your county well enough to know where Radar Flats is located ????  do some ride alongs and get acquainted with the county…geez….but answered him with the mile marker and proximity to the storage sheds on the hill above the highway…he replied that they had received several calls on it…I asked him if they had dispatched Boles Fire District on the call yet, cause it was not only fully involved with heavy fire coming out of every window of the van but traffic was also backing up and down to one lane…instead of answering, he disconnected the call, most likely to answer another caller reporting the fire. I pulled over on the shoulder just west of the van and shot some photos and video while waiting for Boles to show up….

…most of the passersby had the sense to move over to the passing lane to pass by the fire…some apparently lacked the common sense to do so….

…here is the first video I shot of the van….

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I made the 911 call to Franklin County as I approached the scene, then parked on the west side of the van, got out and started shooting, it was a good ten minutes before Boles Fire approached from the east…not sure if it was a slow dispatch or heavy traffic or both that delayed their arrival….

…I have a lot of firefighter friends on Boles Fire and they have a very good department, five stations and a training center as well, they drive yellow green fire trucks and I don`t hold that against them at all. 🙂  On their arrival the Engineer/Driver positioned his truck wisely to protect his crew from traffic, hoselines pulled and a single firefighter took the nozzle and started the attack, foam appeared to be used to extinguish the fire….

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As I stated in the video, good job on the knockdown by a single firefighter on the nozzle !!

Firemen`s Picnic 2018

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I drove by the Firemen`s Picnic Carnival the evening of May 2nd, and saw that they had a Paratrooper Ride on the Fisher Avenue side of the grounds…I stopped by to video shoot it a few times, right before dark and right after dark…they don`t make them like this anymore. Brings back lots of memories when the Rose City Rides owned by Dutch, from the Potosi area, was the Carnival Rides contracted with Sullivan Volunteer Fire Department, and he always had great rides and great people working for him…he had one of these rides each year, it was as popular as the old time Ferris Wheel and Horses Carousel, Swings, Moonwalk, Scrambler, and many others…he brought so many they were stretched all the way down to Park Street….

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Alley Spring Mill and a Redheaded Woodpecker

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On our way to the quarry in Eminence in May, I decided to stop and photograph one of my favorite places in Missouri…Alley Spring Mill…they had quite a bit of rain and I made two discoveries on arrival…the first was that the water was up and really rolling out of the spring and down the creek as I was video shooting the mill…

….the second, there was a big woodpecker busy looking for worms at the edge of the mill pond with a big plume of strikingly red hair on top of his head….

…I shot him with my newer camera, a Lumix 480Z…still not happy with it….here is a video of the mill, stream, and woodpecker that I photographed next….

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…in order to view this video, click on the link above, DSC_102 and then when the next link pops up, click on the longer link in blue and the video will load and pop up on your screen to watch. The next video shows the millrace and spring waters rolling down into the stream at a much higher elevated pace…

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Log House Fire near Cuba

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Onyx and I were getting ready to head out for some supper on the 19th of April  when I heard Bourbon get kicked out for a house fire near the 219 mile marker of westbound I-44, so we headed west on 44 and spotted heavy brown and white smoke from the Leasburg Overpass, looking more like a heavy brush fire. I drove over to the South Service Road and found Cuba, Leasburg, and Bourbon units on the scene of a small log house on fire….

…and below are Cuba Fire Chief Mike Plank and Bourbon Fire Chief Daniel Whatley conferring on the damage to the outside wall on the west side…

Luckily there were no injuries and firefighters were able to put a good stop on the fire…good work by all on scene. 

Sunbeams and Tulips in April

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One day early April I was coming out of the Lowes Store in town and sitting at the stoplight, I noticed the pretty sunbeams right in front of me…

…and later near the Presbyterian Church as well….

and a week later I noticed how several of the new tulips I planted back in the fall were now up and blooming…not as many as I planted, but then again it`s a game of chance how many will bloom….

3 Alarm Structure Fire at Econo Lodge Motel in Cuba, Missouri

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I was cleaning several crystals Thursday evening that I collected in Arkansas earlier this week, when I heard the tones drop for Bourbon and Cuba Fire Departments to respond to a Commercial Structure Fire at 246 Hwy P…not sure where that was located, I looked it up on google earth maps and saw that it was the Econo Lodge Motel on the North Service Road right below Pizza Hut in Cuba. I decided to wait and listen for the size-up once firefighters arrived on scene, figuring it wouldn`t take Cuba long to arrive, the dispatcher had advised smoke from the ceiling. Cuba`s first truck arrived a few minutes later and immediately called for a 2nd Alarm, which would bring Sullivan`s Ladder Truck 852 and several other departments. Onyx and I quickly got on the road with my cameras and flashgun, as I approached the Leasburg Overpass and topped the hill, I saw heavy smoke in the distance…when I topped the hill at the Hwy UU Overpass, I saw a large orange glow and heavy smoke. I had let Jim Bartle know I was on the way up there and he was glad to hear that, as he was locked down in a meeting and unable to go. I called him when I passed the UU Overpass and as I topped the little hill just east of the Cuba Overpass, I let him know that the entire east wing and office area was fully involved, heavy fire through the roof of the east wing. I parked at the Commuter Lot and secured Onyx, took both cameras and put on my traffic vest and walked down toward the motel…I could see Cuba`s Ladder Truck parked on the west side of the east wing and the ladder was up and they were spraying water down into the flames from above…I stopped and shot a brief video…Sullivan`s Ladder Truck 852 passed by me as I was shooting… and then I walked on down to the scene. I noticed 852 was now positioned on the east side of the east wing and the ladder was being raised. 

I stopped to shoot another video at the entrance ramp up into the motel and stopped briefly to talk to a Highway Patrol Trooper on scene assisting with traffic…he asked how I was doing and we talked a few minutes about the weather, luckily it was only 40 degrees that evening and how ten degrees less could have been a disaster for the firefighters with everything freezing up and making everything more hazardous. I then walked east along the edge of the Service Road and took a few initial photos of the heavy fire thru the roof of the east wing and office area….

I stayed in this spot for a few minutes before moving over to an area closer to 852 and noticed that very little water was flowing on this side, no water from the Ladder Pipe, yet Cuba`s Ladder Pipe was flowing the whole time…I found out later that a problem developed with a Cuba pumper that was supplying water thru large diameter supply lines from the hydrant in the Pizza Hut Parking Lot…

….the pump stopped flowing water to the supply lines and Sullivan Pumper 814 was tasked with taking over water supply once they arrived on scene a few minutes later…

The next couple of photos I had to shoot a slower shutter speed to get the depth of field I wanted, so between the firefighters moving in action and the flames moving naturally, the photos look out of focus…I personally like that effect as it shows action…

…..I was shooting another video when I heard 814 approaching…the Q siren on the front bumper was screaming at full tilt and I would know that siren anywhere…

…..as soon as they arrived, Command apparently made the plan to have firefighters manning hoselines and going from unit to unit along the east side of the wing and knocking down the fire…then the Ladder Truck Pipes would attack from above and add the knockout punch to the fires below….

I decided to walk back around and check out the increasing glow over the office area, it appeared to be on fire once again….

…and for a few minutes, I was thinking Cuba had their hands full trying to knock this huge amount of fire down with just their Ladder Pipe, but then Sullivan`s Ladder Pipe became operational and assisted in knocking it back down once and for all….

I have no idea what was in that office area, but it sure did not want to go out, kept coming back again and again….

…and then I returned to the east side again….

I took a few photos with my new camera, which is a backup for me….

the next couple of photos show something I rarely get to see anymore…Captain Dave Konys on the nozzle…. bet he thinks the same thing…good to see him get a turn on it and get to spray some water for once…

I left about 9:45 pm, about the time they had the fire under control and were likely starting to overhaul and mop up. I heard Pumper 814 back in quarters around 11:30 pm, not sure when 852 came home, there was a lot of hoselines to roll up on scene, including large diameter supply lines. Looked like a great job by all on scene, hope they got a good nights rest afterward. 

 

Trailer of Round Hay Bales on Fire Hwy 185 South

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March 3rd sure was a pretty day outside, I was packing clothing and rockhunting tools, getting ready to leave early the next morning for southern Arkansas, to join up with 15 of my rockhound friends who were traveling in from all over the country…we were going back to the Blue Phantom Mine south of Mt Ida. We had been there in November and liked it so well, we decided to make it a two day dig there this time around. Unfortunately several of my other rockhound friends who live up in the northern Midwest and Northeastern US states, were unable to make it due to weather and other obligations. While I was packing, I listened to several fire departments responding to brush fires all over the place…Sullivan Firefighters were out on several calls when their tones dropped for what sounded like a trailer on fire…usually that indicates a mobile home trailer, but in this case, thankfully, it was a trailer loaded with large round hay bales on fire..on Hwy 185 next to the old Kelter Conservation Tower site. I drove down and parked in the tower driveway out of the way, and started walking up to the fire scene…several folks in vehicles stopped asked me what was on fire, and I let them know that at least seven bales were reported to be on fire and let them know they were going to be stopped for quite a while. Many had no clue how long it can take when dealing with round hay bales on fire, and I let several of them know there was an alternate route around the fire if they wanted to go back to the turn to Sleepy Hollow Road and take Hamilton Hollow Road around the fire. When I walked up to the trailer, that was no longer connected to the truck pulling it, blocking the north bound lane of 185, the pumper was blocking the southbound lane and Austin Mesey was doing his best to pull the bale closest to him apart with the hook so that Nick White could put more fire out with the hoseline……

…Nick then went back to the truck to check the water level in the tank, they were working with 1500 gallons on the pumper until a tanker arrived with more water…that`s another thing about putting out large round bales of hay, you either let them burn or you use a lot of water to extinguish the fire in the hay or straw…whichever method you choose, you are going to be there quite a while dealing with it. Chief Eric let me know that he had two tankers on the way from town, they had been out north of town on a brush fire call and had just been released from that call, and two brush units would be enroute to this call as well. I let him know that as I was driving out there, I noticed a huge cloud of white smoke further south of their location and let him know about it…later we found out it was actually down at the foot of the hill of Baker School Hill, in Potosi`s district, a controlled burn. Zach Martel took over the nozzle from Nick, as he packed up and started helping Austin hook the bales and pull them apart so water could be applied….

Chief Eric might have been working with limited manpower, but he had a good young crew here that worked well together as a team, and teamwork can make you or break you really fast….

Davey Sumpter showed up soon after with the first tanker and parked on a dirt drive right behind the pumper, and then a brush truck showed up as well…as I was walking back to my truck, about a dozen motorcycles approached and even moved over into the northbound lanes and passed everyone that were stopped and sitting in the southbound lanes waiting for the incident to clear up…I alerted Chief Eric that it appeared they wanted to come thru, and he immediately had the brush truck pull up and completely block the road access to them…they realized pretty quickly that they were not going to be able to go through there and turned around soon after and left the way they came. I let a few more drivers know they were going to be there awhile or they could take the alternate route around…many of them turned around and headed to the alternate route. When I passed through Meramac State Park, I noticed the motorcycle riders grouped up on the road to Cane`s Bottom…I wondered if they knew that was a dead end for them as well…but as Kellie Polesky used to say at work, not my circus and not my monkeys. 🙂

 

Semi Wraps Around Column Under James K. Schatz Bridge Feb 2018

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I was looking out the window watching the sleet and freezing drizzle the evening of February 10th, watching icycles forming on the  branches and elevated surfaces above my yard, wondering how slick the roads were. I received my answer soon enough, the tones dropping for a serious MVA… motor vehicle accident…at the 224.8 mile marker of eastbound I-44. I grabbed my camera and flash, secured Onyx in the truck and creeped down Elmont Road and over the James K. Schatz Bridge…no one was behind me, so I stopped on top of the bridge and looked west…for as far as I could see to the west, there were tractor trailers sitting sideways across both east and westbound lanes of I-44, one was in the westbound driving lane facing east, one sitting next to it facing westbound, beyond those two trucks were even more that were completely crossways and blocking both lanes on both sides of the median…I didn`t think I had enough light to shoot photos from there, or I would have done so. I drove on over to the Alice Street Cutoff going west and attempted to park on the driveway entrance to nowhere on the right before the stop sign at the North Service Road…I sat there a minute and then my truck started sliding sideways back down into Alice Street so I drove on over to Franklin Street and circled back to Hwy 185 and back to the bridge, then turned left on Alice Street and drove over to the North Service Road and then up to Mobil, parking by the car wash, next to several spectators. I locked Onyx inside, with the heater on low and made my way toward the bridge, observing Sullivan Firefighters trying to rescue the driver of a semi that was wrapped around one of the bottom concrete columns of the bridge, the semi on its side and the trailer extending back thru the median and into eastbound lanes…..

…the freezing drizzle was coming down a lot heavier than it first appeared, the flash illuminating it quite well, so I moved under the bridge soon after shooting that one and then just had to clean the lens off to continue shooting. Dave Konys climbed up on the cab to help supervise the extrication of the driver, and she was removed within about twenty minutes and transported to MoBap Sullivan by medics. Once she was removed, I backed up to shoot some scene photos of it….

During the investigation of the multiple vehicle accident, it was determined that she was eastbound on I-44 when another semi crossed over the median and she swerved to miss it, having only a split second to decide due to the weather, and her semi rolled to its side and struck the column of the bridge, trapping her inside the cab. Modot was on scene during the rescue and in touch with bridge inspectors soon after. As I was leaving the scene, I saw three very large semi wreckers approaching the scene from the West Overpass…while it would have been interesting to see how they removed it from the bridge, it was cold out and it was def going to take them some time to do so, plus there were many other semi`s blocking both lanes of I-44…and it was obviously going to take law enforcement awhile to re-open both lanes of I-44. I overheard radio traffic while there, Bourbon FD was assisting law enforcement at the Bourbon Overpass, re-routing eastbound traffic to the South Service Road. It would be a long night for all first responders and support staff on scene. Good job by all involved !!