Concentrated pollution most always gets press, what I was keying on was that this was the first time in seven years of residence that she had ever seen such a display. The assumption was this was an accidental occurrence, that unfortunately happens when people work.
Reminds me of a youthful incident that happened in the family garage. My dad had taken the Briggs & Stratton engine off the reel type lawn mower chassis for maintenance. Being knob twisters as dad described us, the neighbor kid and I were examining the engine. He was engaged at the workbench and did not notice what we were up to. In the end there was an oil spill and the vocals caught his attention. As he turned to us I said, "We were checking out the engine and a little oil dripped out". With the oil pool still rapidly expanding dad responded, "Yeah, that is like the captain of the Torrey Canyon saying when his oil tanker ran aground, oops a little bit dripped out".
The now old neighbor boy still brings up the Torrey Canyon incident up for a laugh.