An Armageddon Moment

Action shot (hence the fuzzy focus) from the porch this morning with fire engine (lower right above) rushing to the scene of a triple-decker ablaze on Chelsea Street in East Boston (below)

An Armageddon Moment this morning as we looked east during a photo shoot of the rosy fingers of dawn.  There on the horizon across the Creek was the very image of our recurrent post-9/11 nightmare, a billowing dark cloud of smoke rising from Logan Airport.  Or so we imagined.  Then the fire engines started rushing past along Marginal Street. We got some quick action shots and hurried back inside in time to catch the tail-end of a WBZ-TV interview with a British Airways passenger saying she had smelled a strange odor but did not see any flames as she was leaving the aircraft. Just as we were congratulating ourselves on the photographic scoop of our career -- Hey! We got live shots of the opening salvo in the second wave of terrorist attacks on the homeland! -- WBZ switched to SkyCam, showing helicopter views of a three-alarm fire in a triple-decker miles from the airport.

Re the Logan fire, according to an AP report, "It was unclear what caused the fire, but it had ''nothing to do with terrorism,'' a Mass Port official said:

A fire was discovered aboard a British Airways flight [in the avionics compartment under the cockpit] shortly after it landed at Logan International Airport on Monday night, and five firefighters were injured battling the blaze, officials said.

The firefighters complained of burning in their throats and eyes, MassPort spokesman Phil Orlandella said. Four were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital as a precaution.

''There was never any threat to the airplane while it was flying,'' British Airways spokesman John Lampl said. ''There was no threat to the passengers' security.''

If they don't know the cause, though, 1) How do they know it has nothing to do with terrorism and 2) How do they know there was no threat to the plane while it was flying? Just asking (and wishing the AP reporter had asked).

Comments

[acjgoomp]

I guess we are all glad that the Armageddon moment about which we are all apprehensive did not occur. I would guess that British Airways is just blowing smoke and trying to deflect fears and criticism.