This blue sulfur hellfire in Wyoming is mesmerizing — and toxic

On July 7th, fire chief Chris Kocher at the Worland, Wyoming volunteer fire department received a phone call alerting him of a “blue glow” in a rural area off Highway 20 North. As soon as he arrived onsite and looked at the blazing area through binoculars, “I saw we had a sulfur fire,” Kocher tells The Verge.

The fire looked like a carpet of sparkling blue blaze. In a video posted by the fire department on Facebook — which has been viewed almost 2 million times — you can see flames moving quickly across the surface, sometimes raising up into the air. It’s mesmerizingly beautiful — and also really dangerous. If you breathe the smoke, it can harm your lungs and even kill you.

When sulfur burns, it...

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