A Shit-Show

Last night, I was at home making dinner with my roommate Emily, when she goes to the front window and says "come look, there's a shit-show happening outside our house". I run to the front window and see 4 firetrucks outside our front door, one of which is the Arlington County Hazmat Unit:

Firetrucks

Hazardous Response Unit

We weren't sure what was going on, but something had happened at our next door neighbors house. We thought it was some sort of fire, seeing as there was no ambulance or police, only firetrucks. We watched outside from our front porch, trying to figure out what had happened, and when we saw the crew putting on hazmat suits, we got concerned. Then another roommate came home.  We sent her out to chat up the firefighters, and she said they had said that there was an oil spill next door in their basement. 

Worst picture ever, but if you look really closely you can see a guy in an all white Hazmat suit

Then our final roommate and her boyfriend came home, and they went outside to talk to our next door neighbors. Apparently they had a 100 gallon oil drum in their basement from when the heat used to be oil. When the heat was converted over, the oil drum was never drained, and it started leaking last night. Since the oil is a hazardous material, the hazmat crew had to come clean it up.

Running wires through our yard to the neighbors basement to try and get the oil out

The trucks finally left around midnight, I'm not sure if they got it all cleaned up, but I haven't seen them back since, so I assume so. The neighbors also said that the county would pay for them to be put up in a hotel if they wanted (it smelled strongly of oil), so that's good to know if you ever have a hazardous material spill in your house.

Speaking of dinner, it was supposed to be the highlight of my post, but then the shit-show took over outside. I made steak and Emily made me pan-roasted potatoes and an avocado salad. It was delicious, healthy, and thanks again Emily for cooking for me!