ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Pa. smokehouse fire ‘best-smelling in long time’

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Firefighters in one western Pennsylvania city have managed to save 200 pounds of Polish sausage from what they’re calling the best-smelling fire they’ve doused in years.

The New Castle News reports firefighters responded about 11:30 a.m. Monday when a 20-foot-by-20-foot smokehouse caught fire in the yard of Cash Koszela, a retired meat cutter who’s been smoking his own sausage for about 30 years.

Firefighters say some grease from the meat caught fire when the smokehouse got too hot — about 300 degrees.

Koszela says it will cost about $3,000 to replace the smokehouse, which actually is a tin-lined, walk-in cooler fed by smoke piped in from a fire pit.

Assistant Fire Chief David Joseph says, “This is definitely the best-smelling fire we’ve seen in a long time.”

Valentine’s Day gift blamed for Calif. power outage

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.

A Valentine’s Day gift is being blamed for a power outage in Southern California.

Southern California Edison spokesman David Song says a helium-filled balloon scored a direct hit on the company’s Fontana substation Tuesday night, knocking out power to 15,099 customers.

Song tells The Press-Enterprise the balloon likely was a Valentine’s gift. He says it dropped into the substation about 8:40 p.m.

Song says a utility crew rushed to the station and had the power restored by 9:51 p.m.

The substation was the second to encounter problems in Southern California on Tuesday night. A Huntington Beach substation went out at 7:42 p.m., affecting 21,285 customers. Song says power was restored there at 10:38 p.m.

The cause of that outage wasn’t immediately known.

Song says balloon-caused outages occur most often around Valentine’s Day and in June during school graduations.

Bulldog adopts 6 wild-boar piglets in Germany

BERLIN

Forget the three little pigs hiding from the big bad wolf. These six little pigs have found a new friend in a maternal French bulldog named Baby.

The Lehnitz animal sanctuary outside Berlin says Baby took straight to the wild-boar piglets when they were brought in Saturday, 3 days old and shivering from cold.

Sanctuary worker Norbert Damm said Wednesday as soon as the furry striped piglets were brought in, Baby ran over and started snuggling them and keeping them warm, even though they’re almost her size.

Damm says the piglets’ mother likely was killed by a hunter, and the litter was found abandoned in a forest.

The piglets are being bottle-fed and should be released to a nature reserve in about three months when they can feed themselves.

Associated Press