I got the call around 6:30 this morning that I was needed to help up in Newton, on a beef tallow transfer. Two 20,000 gallon rail cars of tallow, that were derailed several months ago, were ready to transfer into new rail cars. Beef tallow is a solid at room temperature. The high temperature today was going to be around 12 degrees. Needless to say, there was a problem. A couple of guys came up from Texas with a portable boiler. They ran steam lines to the railcars. The rail cars have steam lines built into them to aid in liquifying the tallow so that it can be pumped out. So we spent the day in subfreezing temperatures, liquifying fat.

Tomorrow, they will start pumping the liquid tallow from the rail cars, into tank trucks, to be taken to the new rail cars. Too bad I’ll me at the Fire Station.