>>1175238>>1175252One night I stepped out on my porch around midnight. To the north over the hill the entire sky was on fire. From the east to the west, all of the northern sky was yellow--red-orange and "dancing". I woke everyone up, made some calls, and drove in that direction. 15 miles of roads later and satisfied it wasn't a forest fire, I found what it was. It was a massive pipe tower with a gargantuan flame on top right next to my cousin's house. The flame was so large that it melted all the white plastic siding on her house and the family and neighbors evacuated. The flame was about 200 feet in the air and about 1000 feet from her house. The trees near the flame were smoking. It was a giant vent flame for all the local wells where they tie into one giant pipe at that location. The road was packed with people and cars from miles around. We'd all come to see what was going on. The flame lasted for 2 months.
It looked a lot like the one in this image only so much more massive. I wish I had photos of the damn thing, but I was between cameras at the time. My cousin and neighbors all had to get new houses. Evidently nothing caught on fire, but everything in the houses that was plastic simply melted into a puddle. Some people tried suing them, but the company just threw money around and everyone went on about their business.
The entire event was really god damn eerie as shit. The shock, awe, and fear we felt over the blatant audacity of the entire thing is really sobering. The company didn't even warn people in the area. They just lit it up and left. I get an uneasy shitty feeling about it every time I remember it like seeing a tsunami you can't do anything about.
