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.

Saturday night was Haz-Mat Response’s Christmas party. It was held at Argosy Casino in Kansas City. I was accompanied to the gala event by the lovely Ms. Candi Vogt.

We feasted on prime rib, salmon, chicken breast, and assorted other taste tempting treats. My favorite of the night was bacon wrapped scallops. They were delicious.

After the feast, we tried our luck at the casino. Being mindful of the danger of being accidentally bumped up into a higher tax bracket, we gambled conservatively. We played craps for just over two hours and actualy came out $134 ahead. We were very pleased.

A USD 259 truck rolled off a driveway and crushed it’s transmission oil pan. Haz-Mat Response was on the job. We absorbed fluid off the concrete and cleaned it with “Simple Green”. Then we removed a drum of soil that had soaked up the oil. Two wreckers lifted the truck and put it on a flatbed truck and then all was well.

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