Lantern Fire at Dunn Lumber

  • Post author:

The eponymous Mike Dunn sent this report from Chris Huckins of Dunn Lumber of excitement this morning:

This week’s Lake Union Dunn Promise Awards go to Luis Velazquez (Yard) and Ben Dominick (Yard).

Luis spotted a Japanese balloon carried lantern landing on the roof of our common lot shed early in the morning (about 5 AM) of 5/14/2020. The lantern immediately caught the roof on fire.

Luis alerted others in the yard, and Ben Dominick immediately contacted the fire department who quickly responded. Needless to say that the Lake Union crew are extremely grateful for this excellent first responder response to the situation.

No damage other than a small hole in the roof of the shed, no one hurt, and operating as normal – could not be better than that. This was labeled by the fire department as an extremely careless and thoughtless action on the part of someone in the neighborhood but definitely not intentional to do harm to our location.

Thank you Luis and Ben! Extremely well done!

If anyone knows who lofted a candle in a balloon early yesterday morning, I, for one, am curious about the other end of this story.

(Photo is not the actual balloon or balloonist.)


Discover more from Wallyhood

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Jordan

I started Wallyhood back in 2008, right when my son was born, because I realized I had lived in the neighborhood since 1993 and didn't really know my neighbors. I figured writing a blog about what was going on around me would be a good way to meet people and help other people do the same. As the years progressed, those neighbors have picked up the torch and it is now a group effort, which I adore. I moved out of Wallingford for a few years (2020 - 2025), but I'm back, now living with my wife, son and dog (Dillinger) up in Tangletown.

This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. Marie of Romania

    A curious sidenote of NW history are the balloon fire bombs that the Japanese armed forces sent to us in WWII. Maybe it was delayed and finally arrived? 🙂

    1. hayduke

      How ironic that the cultural appropriator actually succeeded, intentions notwithstanding.

  2. new and amused

    Hopefully the person who thought this was an intelligent idea will be big enough to own up and pay for damages. It would set a good example to the younger generation about how to act as a grown up and directly contravene their previous actions of acting as an inconsiderate child.

    1. Scout Finch

      Now, how exactly would this person know where their lantern landed? No one ever knows where those land. Duh?

      1. new and amused

        Perhaps by reading a local blog and connecting the dots? Just how many people do you suppose released such a lantern at this exact time?
        Duh duh?

        1. Marie of Romania

          Careful, new! You’re fixing to get a “OK, boomer” dropped on you any minute 🙂 I do agree with your reasoning and hope someone would own up. I also hope people STOP USING THESE DAMN THINGS where they can cause damage. Save them for Golden Gardens when the wind’s going out to sea.

          1. new and amused

            If I was a boomer I’d take offence, but as a millennial you are wrong once again.
            Don’t worry you can always go onto Facebook and tell everyone that you made two comments online, are exhausted, totally killed it, and all that stuff you need to feel important 🙂
            I agree though. This is irresponsible and completely amazing.
            Enjoy your weekend and good luck with World of Warcraft.

          2. Stephanie Tanner

            Ohhh okay, so these irresponsible lantern people are supposed to also be following neighborhood blogs 😂 Wow how out of touch are you? That’s the funniest sh*t I’ve heard all week. Maybe lantern companies should print “please follow your city’s local neighborhood WordPress blogs so you can see where your lantern lands”. I can assure you, once they let go of the lantern, they don’t care where it lands. So they aren’t following Neighborhood BLOGS.

            Also, you must not be American, as you spelled ‘offense’ with a C. Let me know if I need to spell anything else out for you.

          3. Marie of Romania

            You sound fun.

          4. new and amused

            By being on this blog, and so angry, it would appear that perhaps you are out of touch too. One can only assume you comprehend the irony of your statement?
            But it is always great to have someone ask to spell things out, especially when they are from a country with such a poor educational standard.
            But by attacking someone from another culture, and not being tolerant of differences, we should simply assume you to be a xenophobic Trump supporter.

          5. Marie of Romania

            Uhhh…you misunderstood. By their use of “duh” I thought Scout was a young person and would respond to your comment with “OK boomer” as so many do these days under cover of online anonymity. I was not calling you that; in fact, I went to the trouble of supporting you. Hope that clears things up. Thanks. PS – I’m not on Facebook 🙂

  3. Bernard Case

    On Wallyhood even this can be a reason for hot heads and personal attacks.

  4. Wo Fat

    I will try to avoid the minefield of triggering someone out there, but these days that is nearly an impossible task. These lovely floating lanterns, of whatever ethnicity you wish to attribute them, are a fairly insane idea wherever you are. Even on the Pacific coast of the state, where the prevailing winds off the ocean would tend to blow them in to the nice dry—kind of tinder dry—forests of the Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere. To release them in an urban area is one step removed from arson. While I’m on a rant roll: stop with the releasing of helium balloons, too. Such a nice gesture for weddings or other celebrations, but they can cause real problems in the marine environment and elsewhere. If you must release something into the air to mark an occasion, try malaria-laden mosquitoes or murder hornets. At least that will distract from this pesky pandemic thing so that maybe we can get haircuts and manicures.

    1. Marie of Romania

      i release a YUUUUGE blast of gas.

Comments are closed.