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Snow? In Berkeley? Killing Fish?

Gar Smith
Friday April 05, 2019 - 02:53:00 PM
Gar Smith
Gar Smith
Burned Garbage Truck on Rose
Gar Smith
Burned Garbage Truck on Rose

As I turned the corner at the end of Ada Street on the morning of April 4,.I was startled by what I saw. Suddenly our North Berkeley neighborhood looked like Minnesota under six inches of snow.

There was a very odd story behind all this faux snow.

Up on Rose Street, the contents of a city garbage trunk had caught fire (some cast-off lithium-ion batteries, perhaps?) Propane tanks on the vehicle were in danger of exploding, putting nearby homes at risk. The Fire Department successfully used fire-suppressant foam to choke the flames but the foam continued to flow downhill, coating streets and gutters in three directions. Sadly, the foam also entered the storm-drains, contaminating Cordornices Creek and killing hundreds of fish in the restored stream.