While driving down Route 106 last week, the Revelator was shocked to see a plume of thick, black smoke rising from a spot on the horizon. Alarmed, I pulled over, grabbed my camera and took some Pulitzer-worthy shots of the breaking news, sure to be Monitor front-page material.
Then, I got in the car, drove half a mile further and realized that the smoke was coming from the New Hampshire Department of Safety's fire training facilities on Smokey The Bear Boulevard.
Just to be sure, I called over to the facility and spoke with the director, Perry Plummer. Plummer told me that the smoke was indeed part of a routine aircraft firefighting session. He said the black smoke was the result of burning propane, which they use to simulate jet fuel.
“We burn at the academy on a fairly regular basis,” Plummer said. The 12-acre facility is home to several training areas, including cars, dumpsters, airplanes, and anywhere else one might need to fight a fire.
So, next time you're travelling on Route 106 and you see a cloud of smoke, make sure it's coming from somewhere other than Smokey The Bear Boulevard before you call the fire brigade.
