I missed Fire Prevention Week by a month, but I do want to send a shout out to the brave firefighters in this country.
I have never had a fire burn down my house (fortunately) but I did have a grass fire destroy my family’s 18 acres and the neighboring 20 as well. Actually the fire went to a major highway before contained and probably burned 70 or 80 acres.
I was 15 or 16 at the time. I always burned the household in a burn barrel a few hundred feet from the house. I was somewhat careless never having a grate or paying much attention to the fire. On this particular day we had a strong breeze and rather than watch the burn barrel, I went up to the house to shoot some baskets.
Next thing I knew I was down at the burn barrel site trying to put out flames that had escaped. I had a shovel handy but no water. I swatted the flames with the shovel but the breeze had picked up and the flames were spreading rapidly.
Soon the fire was out of control and I ran to the house to have my mom call the volunteer fire department. Within minutes two tankers arrived and drove their way down to the burn barrel. I was amazed at how quickly they had reached our home. Unfortunately, the first tanker was stuck in mud and their hose wouldn’t reach the fire. The second tanker made it through, but by the time they did the fire had spread exponentially. If you seen forest fires you know pine trees burn faster than any other type of tree.
Besides the mud problem, both my neighbors and my family had most of our acreage covered with pine trees. In the case of my neighbors they were adolescent trees that he would eventually sell as Christmas trees. Or that was the thought. The fire consumed those trees and a good share of mine as it made its way to the major highway.
As expected my neighbor wouldn’t talk to me for a good long time, but as friends do, we patched things up fairly quickly. I don’t know for sure or not but my parents probably paid a sum of money to him as well as the bill for the fire department.
And it took a long time for me to outlive the “firebug” label my friends attached to me. Nowadays I am very careful. Always when I’m burning leaves or other materials, my mind harkens back to that day my fire got out of control. I avoid fires, even bonfires give me the “willys.
The fire department, all volunteer, worked valiantly to contain the fire, and that day I learned to have immense respect to those first responders that put their lives on the line to help us. The firemen in my town do it out of a sense of duty. They didn’t earn a dime for fighting my fire.Whether it be policemen, armed service personnel, firefighter, doctors or nurses, they all deserve a token of our appreciation. They are the true heroes that make America the greatest country in the world.
