The plagues just keep on comin'...

Apparently this was a bad weekend for fires. First, early Sunday morning, near my sister's house in Oakland, a fuel tanker truck crashed & exploded into flames under an elevated highway, causing the roadway supports to melt & collapse. Nobody died in the crash nor in the collapse, and apparently the driver of the truck came out with only some moderate burns. That area will be a huge traffic mess for at least several months.

Then early this morning, a fire broke out at Eastern Market in Washington, DC, and basically gutted the place. About this time 7 years ago, I was in a production of No Exit on their stage at Market 5 Gallery. It was a great performance space, especially if you didn't mind some of the interesting smells of having portable toilets indoors. I don't know for sure if the fire hit this part of the building, but I'm guessing that the all-wood stage would probably be one of the first things to burn... :(

Update as of 5/1/2007: According to the Washington Post, the fire only destroyed the South part of the building (mostly food markets), but not the North part (art gallery & stage area): "The North Hall, where artists and craftsmakers set up shop, was spared."