Sandy MaloneDeer Park, TX – An unusual superhero showed up to help firefighters battle the petrochemical blaze near Houston that has been burning since March 16.
A man dressed in a silver suit and a helmet, calling himself “Earthman,” showed up to offer his services to the firefighters on Day 3 of the fire, KHOU reported.
The helmet Earthman wore was hooked up to a bunch of hoses that were hooked to a series of small PVC pipes that ran down the front of his chest.
In his left hand, he carried a green garden hose.
And he was barefoot.
Earthman’s appearance delivered a much-needed jolt of humor to a difficult situation.
The citizens of Deer Park were under a shelter-in-place order briefly on Thursday as the level of benzene in the air became dangerous, The New York Times reported.
It was the second shelter-in-place order this week as a result of the fire.
The city of Deer Park, located about 20 miles east of Houston, said the massive blaze started when a storage tank caught fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company, according to The New York Times.
Several fire departments have been working together to fight the fire, but apparently did not need assistance from Earthman, as law enforcement officers escorted him away from the scene after he arrived.
Interestingly, this was not the first time Earthman has volunteered his services at the scene of an emergency.
Dion Laurent posted a picture of Earthman and labeled him “Earthman 2” on his Facebook page.
He also posted a 2011 photo of the original Earthman, which looked like the same person with a slightly different hose configuration on his costume.
And the original Earthman brought a bouquet of flowers with him, the picture showed.