Family's home destroyed. Police issue all points bulletin for Rube Goldberg

[astro]

Freak accident destroys family’s home

HAZELTON – In a bizarre series of events, an overheated bearing on a truck ended up burning down a Hazelton home Sunday.

West End Fire District Chief Randy Sutton said a semi truck traveling west on Interstate 84 lost its right front wheel when the bearing failed and it overheated.

The wheel rolled across the frontage road, hit the curb in front of the house, burst through a wall next to the front door and bounced down the stairs before coming to rest in the basement and igniting the fire, Sutton said.

The driver of the truck, Wesley Rankin, told police he went to search for the wheel and noticed smoke coming from a home at 2864 E. 990 S., according to a police report. Rankin said he assisted the resident, Charisse Stevenson, in running a hose into the house and that’s when he spotted his wheel lying in the entryway.

Stevenson and her children were able to escape the home unhurt but it took 18 firefighters about three hours to extinguish the blaze, Sutton said. The burning tire caused extensive smoke damage and the family currently is staying with relatives nearby.

[ParentalAdvisory]

Glad everyone is ok.

Oh, and who is Rube Goldberg?

[ParentalAdvisory]

Nevermind, Google made me understand.

[CynicalGabe]

Have you guys seen those AllState (i think its AllState) insurance commercials where someone drives into a telephone pole, setting off a chain reaction and wrecking other cars and homes.

Well, I guess you’d have to see it to laugh.
HAHAHAHA

[TJdude825]

http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/surprise gives a pretty good, if kind of long, explanation of “Rube Goldberg” machines.

[twickster]

@TJdude825

…a pretty good, if kind of long, explanation of “Rube Goldberg” machines.

I’m pretty sure “concise explanation of a Rube Goldberg contraption” would be an oxymoron.

[Voyager]

I’ve always loved Rube Goldberg, and the covoluted text that went along with the pictures. And then I saw the application written for my first patent, and realized where he got his style from.