Fire and Ice in Chicago: Incredible Images of a Burned and Frozen Warehouse

Unfortunately, none of the amazing photos I have to share with you today are from a disaster movie… these incredible and horrible scenes were captured in the real world on January 15, 2013. A five alarm blaze ripped through a warehouse late at night, gutting the entire building while scorching brick and concrete and shattering glass panes. While we never like to see destruction of property on this scale outside of when our favorite action hero is causing it safely on a sound stage somewhere, a unique situation occurred with the recent cold snap and ice in Chicago. What you’re seeing is the water used to put out the fire freezing almost instantaneously, creating a haunting landscape of abandoned trucks, black char, and crystalline white ice. 

Fire and Ice in Chicago: Putting Out a Blaze Creates a Frozen Apocalyptic Wasteland

Getting past the fact that many people’s livelihoods burned to the ground, and now has to be further razed with extreme prejudice, this is like a fascinating science experiment most of us will never get to do or see. Societal conventions dictate that as a rule, it is very rude to cover someone’s entire house, car and workplace in glimmering daggers of ice by spraying water from a hose all willy nilly. So really, these images represent a scene that won’t soon be replicated (we hope,) and the strings of ornamental icicles and powdery looking drifts of snow created by flash freezing water and steam is a glimpse into a forgotten ice age. (Or at the forgotten pork chops in the back of your deep freezer.) Click on any of the photos for a bigger, better look.

alex garcia low

These machines can shoot between 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water per minute. That’s mind blowing, given that the pressure alone should have been blasting away the ice as quickly as it could form. It’s chilling (…yikes) to think that this is how cold the air has been in Chicago this January.

After seeing the destruction and the aftermath, I can staunchly say that I do not want to be hit by an asteroid or experience nuclear winter. But I have to admit… a small part of me thinks that if you could take this look and apply it to the prison in Walking Dead, shit would get about 20,000 times more real. To see more pictures from this disaster, but to appreciate this insane occurrence of fire and ice in Chicago, take a look at the Chicago Tribune gallery.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON

in

Art & Photography

Photo of author

Gina

Author, Designer, and "that girl your mother warned you about." Looking good seems to be my job, whether it's working with the site design, or a number of other more interesting capacities. I have a ridiculous sense of humour and a brutal sense of honesty- you'll see a lot of that coming through in my writing, so don't say I didn't warn you if I somehow manage to offend you AND hurt your feelings at the same time. On the plus side, it makes my dating and advice columns a lot more pertinent to an unfinished man in the real world.

5 comments on “Fire and Ice in Chicago: Incredible Images of a Burned and Frozen Warehouse”

  1. Awsome photo’s, hard to believe they are for real, just goes to show the power of water and the coldness of winter. The photo’s look almost ghostly, certainly feel for those firemen out in those conditions, brave men they must be.

    Reply
  2. I have been the guy on the tip,(top) of a ladder, fly piping (spraying water from a nozzle) in weather much like this. The wind is Always in your face, blowing the spray back at you. Ice buildup on you clothing, helmet, mustache, eyebrows is very, very common. Personnel must be rotated frequently because of these conditions.

    Reply
    • You have the same situation when you are on a ship in the arctic in the winter and hit a storm, build-up of ice on the ship has to be removed to prevent the ship from weighing to much, not pleasant being out there to hammer it off *shivers*

      Reply

Leave a Comment