Mongolia fire department

zieak ♦ September 21, 2012 ♦ Leave Your Comment

We went to buy a wireless router after work today. The place we went has two entrances… the ones our driver dropped us off at were being repaired. But I think they put them in less than a year ago.

So we went through the alley that leads to the other entrance, past a 10 foot pit dug apparently for some utility lines. Then a cinder block wall blocked our access to the other entrance. Fortunately a Mongolian woman was in front of us. She asked a man standing nearby if she could go through a gap in the wall. I don’t know enough Mongolian to know that is what she asked but considering the situation I am pretty sure that is what was happening. He said she could. We soon saw a mass of people around a guy shoveling dirt onto smoldering trash. Burning trash seems to be so commonplace that the odor and sight wasn’t disturbing to us until we saw the ten or so spent fire extinguishers and powder around the site.

We held our breath and rushed through the smoke plume and into the building. After our purchase of the router we exited the same door… you know, since the other entrance was being fixed. Now there was a fire truck and firefighters working a hose line into the inferno of the garbage enclosure.