@@donnamitchell7707 The wood is not soaked but impregnated with creosote. The stuff will feel like a bad sunburn in the sun when on your skin, even vapors.
@@royreynolds108 I know all about it, as we used it to paint our farm fences to stop our horses from chewing them. Yes, it can feel like a sunburn if you get any on you, or breathe it in. I always wore long sleeve shirts, and gloves, so it won't come in contact with my skin. Have a great day Roy.
There was a similar fire near Sacramento, CA about 10 years ago. Old wooden trestle over a low lying area near the American River. There was nothing they could do but let it burn. It was a main line of the Union Pacific and they replaced it with a new steel structure as fast as possible.
If it turns out to be arson, I won't be at all surprised... The structure's been there well over 100 years, never a problem before... Nowadays you've got these miserable, lazy, entitled people that get upset whenever something doesn't go their way, and they have to vent their anger and stupidity out on something!
Fairly certain that the ""miserable, lazy, entitled people" you're referring to (and yeah, I know exactly what you are implying) were probably a bunch of bored local kids who just felt like watching something burn. They've done it before, and they'll do it again.
Just last week I was burning a small brush pile and had a stack of very old cross ties nearby waiting to go on the pile. The short grass burned over to the cross ties and they LIT UP. I was amazed they could catch from such a small fire. I have a 250 gallon tank with a 2" high pressure pump and could not put them out. They flared up again every time. No great loss, I just have to clean up the nails now. But I highly recommend not having any around your house. They used to be popular for retaining walls or landscape edging etc.
Same thing happened ten or fifteen years ago near Chicora PA. A wood trestle known as the Divener, caught fire. It was a active rail line. It was replaced with a large diet fill, in very short order.
In the county where I live in NY, Onondaga County, we have a Sheriffs helicopter that can scoop Up water from a pool or pond, and dump it on a brush fire. You need that’ where you are.
Black smoke is typical of older trestle fires due to the preservative used Creosote. As for the fire attack looks like a brisk wind is blowing which is complicating things for the firefighters,
There was a similar fire in Poughkeepsie New York in 1974 except it was an active rail line. They decided it was too expensive to repair it and it's now a walking trail. Creosote fires will jump from tie to tie across the entire bridge.
@@johncasey1020 I'm old 🔥🧯 My father took me to watch trains once on the PRR mainline near Pittsburgh. At the time, the structures for passenger service were still in place. They had a pedestrian bridge over the tracks soaked in that stuff. It is a smell that you never forget.
May 22,2003, Newcastle Wyoming, NCVFD is paged to a grass fire with railroad ties on fire as well. 16 year old Anndee Huber responded to the station and so did Ron Collier, who drove the tanker, in route he flipped the tanker, killing Anndee Huber, because he was driving drunk.
Historical Info-- (copied&pasted) Dormant since 1984, the [first] Lake Matawan Trestle was originally built by the Freehold and Atlantic Highlands Railroad in 1877 which later came under ownership of the CNJ and ultimately, Conrail. I believe this is the second or third bridge built to span the lake and was rebuilt with wood as well.
Power lines can get wet, what do you think happens when it rains? It's the communications lines (phone/cable TV/www) that are being hit. As long as nothing breaks the actual power lines above, everything's fine...and it takes a lot more force to accomplish that.
There was a mythbusters episode about whizzing on the third rail. When water has to travel that far it breaks up into droplets and doesn't form a continuous path. I was surprised at the amount of leakage in that hose though, and all the connections to the hydrant and the truck. But I guess it's nothing compared to what's coming out the other end.
There's a historic train trestle in Greenville Mi. from the Pere Marquette days early 1900s that someone has tried to burn down twice in three years. So sad this Is happening there to you too. We you able to save it?
Better to let it burn and protect exposures and stop it extending. Putting water on it with the amount of tar and creosote on it will make the water run off incredibly polluted. And be really careful operating under those power lines, if they come down you’re in trouble.
outstanding job by fd love the video busy day for brush fire in the area and the one in edison i went with my department with the brush truck mutual aid to edison busy day for the state forests fire service and fd Mutiple brush fire that day across the state
Juveniles who commit felonies should be tried as adults. Arson is a serious crime. Those trestle timbers and rail ties are probably impregnated with creosote. Highly flammable. Hard to fight that fire, especially with so much dry brush, and the wind pushing embers.
Great coverage of the fire. If this was in California CALFIRE would have hit this with a Chopper or even a fixed wing and it would have been out before you arrived.
Hard to do anything once that creosote gets to burning. Had the trestle behind my house burn when I was a firefighter in Damascus, Va. back in the 70's. Took all night to get it out.
hope they caught the idiot that did this. why do people do stupid stuff like this.?. never would have thought of doing this when we were kids. needs to go to prison and the parents charged for the cost of replacement. Big Thanks to all the Fireman.
Down the street from my old house 😢we grew up crossing that bridge all the time & hang out on the cat walk. Those were fun times!!! So sad to watch history burn because of some idiot kid 🤬
I hope they catch the little punk who is destroying history! If they catch the perpetrator, he/she should be made To rebuild the entire trestle at his own expense!!
Ok... I know SOMEWHERE in this video the narrator says "And that's why you don't play with matches, kids", I'm pretty busy this morning, but would love to hear it, can someone post the timestamp?
Nice video. Thanks. I noticed someone questioned you at some point about where you were and why, or something like that. Don't know if it was a cop, FF, or just a rando, but consider making yourself a nice laminated media credential on a lanyard to look all official-like, JSFR MEDIA. Look and act like you belong and/or are important and people will be more apt to not challenge you. Just a 3/4 serious thought.
The same creosote that prevents them from rotting also prevents them from being put out once they're burning.....toxic fumes....bummer....love those old train trustles....a lot of history up in smoke😥
This fire looked eerily familiar to some fires I've watched out of California. What would happen to the wood , if the ground was hit with a sustained laser attack causing the metal track to react by getting extremely hot ? What's it been 3 or 4 yrs since Dr Coo Coo , said on ABC's good morning America that scientist have developed trillion watt lasers to manipulate the weather, what else could trillion watt lasers be used for?
This is really sad. Seems like they could use something different than water couldn't they since these old train trestles have a lot of creosote on them.
Interesting and great video! Your videos are usually interesting & great. Perhaps you can refrain from vocally commenting in them so they will be better.
Abandoned, last passenger train ran Matawan to Freehold in 1954, but the line was still used for freight until 1983. Just south of the old trestle the right of way is now the southern portion of the Henry Hudson Trail.
I never knew freight service lasted into the 80s. On the other side (Seashore Branch) I knew they ran up to the IFF factory but I didn’t know there was freight activity on this side of the Coast Line
