[meteorite-list] Ice Chunks Fall From Sky Onto Car Dealership

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:48 2004
Message-ID: <200201190001.QAA17555_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.charleston.net/pub/archive/news/ice0117.htm

Ice chunk falls from sky onto car dealership
BY EDWARD C. FENNELL
charleston.net (South Carolina)
January 17, 2002

     Literally out of the blue, something dropped in
Wednesday that froze an employee of a West Ashley auto
dealership in his path.
     A chunk of ice, perhaps "half the size of a car" fell
out of the sky and ripped through the roof of a repair
service area at Acura of Charleston dealership on Savannah
Highway. Authorities said late Wednesday that samples are
being tested by state officials, but for now, the source of
the frozen missile remains a mystery.
     The ice landed about 9 a.m., just missing a dealership
employee and causing $5,000 damage to the roof and damage to
a parked, new car, St. Andrews Fire Department Capt. Ray
Gorham said.
     "It punched through the roof like you punch your hand
through a piece of paper," Gorham said.
     "It had to come from high up and had to be traveling at
a high rate of speed. It had to be a fairly large piece
because it put a 3-foot hole in the roof," he said.
     Acura parts and service manager Mike Huggins had just
strolled through the room when the ball of ice arrived with
a loud bang.
     "Another minute earlier, and I would have been right
beneath it," Huggins said. "I heard a big explosion, and as
soon as I did, some of the roof was laying on the ground."
     At first he thought perhaps an air conditioning unit on
the roof had exploded, but that was soon discounted.
     "There was a two-and-a-half foot by three-and-a-half
piece (of ice) - a pretty big slab - on the floor, with lots
of little chunks," Huggins said. "We saved a couple of
chunks," he added.
     Though speculation was that the ice was contents of a
leaking aircraft toilet that became frozen outside the plane
and then fell off, Huggins said the ice seemed clear and
pure.
     "It didn't have an odor, and it was hard as a rock. It
looked like a big hunk of ice, some clear and some white,
like normal ice would be," he said.
     Gorham said Acura called an insurance agent who came to
the scene and advised that a police report would be
necessary. The Charleston County Sheriff's Office sent
deputies who called in firefighters to determine if the
frosty visitor contained any hazardous material.
     Firefighters found no trace of a hazard but called
Emergency Preparedness Department officials who took samples
to send to a lab, Gorham said.
     Gorham said that by the time he and other firefighters
saw the ice, much of it had melted and it looked brownish.
     Huggins said the ice became discolored as it melted and
mixed with insulation, asphalt and rocks from the roof.
     "I have no clue where it came from," Gorham said. "My
best guess is that it was from the edge of a meteor." He
said he checked with FAA officials who told him there was no
air traffic in the area at that time.
     Huggins speculated that it's possible the FAA would not
disclose the presence of any military aircraft.
     Wherever it came from, the ice has authorities and
dealership employees puzzled.
     "None of the guys from here, or the firefighters,
police or EMS had ever seen anything like this," Huggins
said. "Lots of police and firefighters came by just to have
a look because nobody could believe that what was being
radioed out had really happened."
     Gorham said the incident "left us all scratching our
heads. In my 16 years of fire service, it's the strangest
thing I ever saw."
     Huggins discounts any suggestion that anyone aimed a
ball of ice at the dealership.
     "I don't think the Taliban can shoot it that far,"
Huggins said.
Received on Fri 18 Jan 2002 07:01:23 PM PST