Where there's smoke
03/03/12 05:34
I think that I probably have a slightly elevated fear of fire. I guess that most people have some fear of fire and being burned, so it is possible that I am not really different from others, but I know that I have more fear now than I did earlier in my life. In 2001, I suffered burns on my face, hands, arms and chest. They were not severe or life threatening. The burns were mostly 1st and 2nd degree and I have healed well. I did not require any skin grafts and did not suffer infections. All in all the experience wasn’t any near as terrible as some people have suffered. But it changed the way I think and behave around fire. I don’t use liquid charcoal lighter any more, preferring to use a charcoal chimney and newspaper for my barbecue. I am very careful around fuels and keep gas and kerosene cans in a shed that is not attached to our home.
I notice when a fire occurs in our town. I check out the reports from news agencies to get as much information as I can about the fire. One of the spokespersons for our local fire department is a friend of mine and I have been known to pepper him with questions about fires.
While I know first hand that a fire is no laughing matter, there is a dark side to my sense of humor that notices irony and causes me to occasionally laugh at a joke about fire or burning.
So I noticed, yesterday, when driving north on Campbell Street here in Rapid City, a strange posting on the letter board at a local car dealership. A few blocks before I reached the intersection where the car dealership is located, I drove by the former location of the same dealership. Billion Kia in Rapid City had to relocate after a fire on November 3 destroyed their former building. It was a dramatic fire that got lots of attention from news media. Fortunately no one was injured, but the building was a total loss. I don’t know the results of the full investigation of the fire, but there were reports that the fire started in a waste oil tank that was located near the area where employees stepped out of the building to smoke cigarettes.
Demolition has not yet begun at the old building. They have erected a chain link fence around it, but no other work has been done at the site even though it has been four months since the fire. I suppose that there must be some issues involving insurance yet to be resolved before clean up can begin. As I drove by yesterday, I wondered about how long the charred hull of a building with a collapsed roof would remain before work begins. It is a valuable piece of commercial property and the owner is not realizing any income from it the way it now stands.
The dealership is now located in a facility with bigger and newer buildings on a very visible intersection. The increased traffic at the new intersection, which has a car dealership on every corner, means that they are unlikely to go back to the old location.
At their new location they have a sign with changeable letters. It isn’t as fancy as the big electronic billboard at the Nissan dealership across the street, but the letters are large enough to catch my attention and I had plenty of time to read them as I was stopped in the intersection. In fact, I had enough time to take a picture with my phone before the light changed.
I wonder if the dealership caught the irony in their sign. In fact, the way my mind works, I thought that it was possible, or even likely, that they chose the words on purpose to get the attention of the people who remember the fire. It could even be their way of commemorating the first quarter of doing business in the new location.
Then again, they might have just taken a stock marketing phrase and put it up on the letter board without thinking about it. I guess I could have stopped and asked them. Quite frankly, however, the sign didn’t make me want to stop. It got my attention, but didn’t attract me. I have a thing about fires, you know.
They may have smoking hot deals, but I feel no desire to be a part of one given the dealership’s experience with scary fires. I’m not even sure that it is good advertising to bring up the possibility that one could get burned in a car deal.
Friends tell me that I am overly critical of the signs that are posted around town. I catch spelling and grammar mistakes and have been known to complain about the proliferation of electronic billboards. If it is illegal for a driver to watch videos in the car while driving, what makes us think it is less dangerous for drivers to watch videos on signboards outside of the car? If those signs aren’t distracting, they aren’t doing their job. The intent of the advertisers is to get people to think about something other than driving. We have enough distracted drivers without adding more distractions.
Signs and billboards are a topic of frequent debate in our city. Last year Rapid City voters approved restrictions on the huge video billboards. Recently the state legislature passed a bill that may have overturned those regulations. You can find people who will heatedly argue for or against various restrictions on billboards. And there is no shortage of billboards in Rapid City. Four states, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have bans on billboards. All are known for their scenic beauty. None have suffered loss of tourist traffic because of their bans. I wouldn’t mind having South Dakota join those states. I think that we have an abundance of natural beauty that is in no way enhanced by the visual litter of excessive advertising.
But then, there are plenty of people who consider my views to be extreme. I have a friend whose family is in the outdoor advertising business who just rolls her eyes when I get on the topic.
I do have to concede that the signs are effective. They get my attention. Why just yesterday I took a picture with my cell phone while waiting for the light to change at one of the busiest intersections in town. That can’t be safe.
Fortunately I avoided an accident yesterday.
I didn’t get burned, either.
While I know first hand that a fire is no laughing matter, there is a dark side to my sense of humor that notices irony and causes me to occasionally laugh at a joke about fire or burning.
So I noticed, yesterday, when driving north on Campbell Street here in Rapid City, a strange posting on the letter board at a local car dealership. A few blocks before I reached the intersection where the car dealership is located, I drove by the former location of the same dealership. Billion Kia in Rapid City had to relocate after a fire on November 3 destroyed their former building. It was a dramatic fire that got lots of attention from news media. Fortunately no one was injured, but the building was a total loss. I don’t know the results of the full investigation of the fire, but there were reports that the fire started in a waste oil tank that was located near the area where employees stepped out of the building to smoke cigarettes.
The dealership is now located in a facility with bigger and newer buildings on a very visible intersection. The increased traffic at the new intersection, which has a car dealership on every corner, means that they are unlikely to go back to the old location.
At their new location they have a sign with changeable letters. It isn’t as fancy as the big electronic billboard at the Nissan dealership across the street, but the letters are large enough to catch my attention and I had plenty of time to read them as I was stopped in the intersection. In fact, I had enough time to take a picture with my phone before the light changed.
Then again, they might have just taken a stock marketing phrase and put it up on the letter board without thinking about it. I guess I could have stopped and asked them. Quite frankly, however, the sign didn’t make me want to stop. It got my attention, but didn’t attract me. I have a thing about fires, you know.
They may have smoking hot deals, but I feel no desire to be a part of one given the dealership’s experience with scary fires. I’m not even sure that it is good advertising to bring up the possibility that one could get burned in a car deal.
Friends tell me that I am overly critical of the signs that are posted around town. I catch spelling and grammar mistakes and have been known to complain about the proliferation of electronic billboards. If it is illegal for a driver to watch videos in the car while driving, what makes us think it is less dangerous for drivers to watch videos on signboards outside of the car? If those signs aren’t distracting, they aren’t doing their job. The intent of the advertisers is to get people to think about something other than driving. We have enough distracted drivers without adding more distractions.
Signs and billboards are a topic of frequent debate in our city. Last year Rapid City voters approved restrictions on the huge video billboards. Recently the state legislature passed a bill that may have overturned those regulations. You can find people who will heatedly argue for or against various restrictions on billboards. And there is no shortage of billboards in Rapid City. Four states, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have bans on billboards. All are known for their scenic beauty. None have suffered loss of tourist traffic because of their bans. I wouldn’t mind having South Dakota join those states. I think that we have an abundance of natural beauty that is in no way enhanced by the visual litter of excessive advertising.
But then, there are plenty of people who consider my views to be extreme. I have a friend whose family is in the outdoor advertising business who just rolls her eyes when I get on the topic.
I do have to concede that the signs are effective. They get my attention. Why just yesterday I took a picture with my cell phone while waiting for the light to change at one of the busiest intersections in town. That can’t be safe.
Fortunately I avoided an accident yesterday.
I didn’t get burned, either.