The company two lots up the street from my office does some sort of industrial chromatography work, that results in some heavy metal discharges. To meet EPA & state requirements, they have to have an oversize leeching field for drainage and catchment purposes. They have a jogging track around it to salvage some of the wasted land for something other than quietly soaking industrial waste-water. They also occasionally indulge in a little bit of fireworks. Apparently industrial chromatography has quite the profit margin, to judge from all the wackiness that company can afford.

Anyways, last week, they gave us notice that they'd be playing with fireworks again over the weekend. We came in this morning to discover an acre and a half of scorched, blackened field out in the drainage area, right across the jogging track from our property. Apparently the fireworks got a little out of hand over the weekend. There's the strong scent of burnt land, and a big black scar marring our northern prospect . It's spring, so I suppose new growth will wipe it away in good order. But it's a bit nerve-wracking when you consider what might have happened if that brushfire had gotten into the trees along the edge of the property...

Update: Hah! It made the local paper. "Fireworks safety training", eh? Well, if that's what you want to call it... They claim the grass was very dry. Considering how much rain we've gotten in the last three weeks or so, I'd classify that as low-grade happytalk. They were just screwing around and it bit them on the ass. There's a nice picture of a fire truck spinning its wheels in the middle of a field on fire. That explains the tire tracks through the ashes I noticed out there.