I have a favorite refinery pigeon story...
We got a frantic call on the refinery emergency line that there were pigeons falling dead out of the main North/South pipe rack! Because this rack holds the 14 inch acid gas line containing 90%+ H2S we all feared the worst!. We activated the emergency response team and assumed that the birds were somehow being overcome with H2S. I arrived on the scene in full fresh air just in time to see two more birds drop from the line. They were still warm so they had obviously just been overcome. We collected two of the bodies and sent them to a local animal hospital for autopsy.
In the mean time, the emergency team had blocked off the whole area and was searching frantically for the H2S leak. This proved very frustrating as not a trace of the toxic gas was showing-up on their meters. Another bird falls to his death right at my feet...
After burning through 20 or so SCBA's, the search was called off as everything looked to be in order. Our only hope was that the autopsy would provide clues. Before long, one of the shop supervisors came by and informed us that they had just put a pile of rat poison out that morning (in the rafters of the shop) and thought the pigeons might have eaten some and flown over to roost in the pipe rack. No shit batman - stand down the emergency team!!! ...but it does verify your rats with wings theory...
Pat
No comments:
Post a Comment