Yesterday at lunch time I received a call from Deputy Director of the Department of Public Services, and I need to say when I found out why, it took me a little off guard. He was questioning the bubbles that were floating around the area of Squirrel and University. I thought he had lost his mind until I looked out the window. Just when I thought I was being pranked; I realized he was right. Of course, the first thing I did was check to see if we were in the middle of foam training. I then realized all of our units were at emergency calls, and a number of questions immediately entered my mind:
- Did somebody bring Lawrence Welk’s bubble machine to town?
- Did the college have an experiment that went bad?
- Do we need to call out the haz-mat team. (wondering how in the world I would report this incident or even request a number for the call to be generated).
There was tons of bubbles on the ground, in the air and on our vehicles. This was the first of many calls received within the next few minutes. I then put on my “CSI” glasses and started the investigation. I, however, completed this in less time than the hour show, but then again, there were no commercial breaks.
The wind was coming directly from Oakland University, probably some college festivities. I made a call to their police department where I found that every so often they add salt to the water for the campus cooling system. This procedure is what creates bubbles. Because the wind was so strong and coming from the right direction it showered the campus with bubbles. Watching the endless stream of lunch time walkers became comical. People were touching, smelling and throwing these magical bubbles that kept appearing out of nowhere.
Well after my investigation was complete and the wind died down, I returned all the calls and went back to the normal work routine. Now the question of the day is: What is normal in the fire department?
Where There's Smoke... 