When I left for town on Sunday, the dogs did not come running for their treat. I smelled smoke, and assumed Farmer H was burning stuff on his burn pile over by the BARn. I filed this assumption away for discussion during This Is the Time We Talk About the Most Recent Thing You've Done Wrong.
When I pulled out of the driveway, I saw three trucks around some smoke billowing from our across-the-road neighbors' field. Actually, it's the field next to them, owned by the previous across-the-road neighbors' brother, though they pastured their horses in there indiscriminately.
Anyhoo... during the storm that rolled through a couple evenings ago, some spindly trees were twisted, and their branches lay partly in the gravel road. That's what was being burned. It was not a smart decision, with the trees whipping around all day in winds of 20 mph. All those flames had to do was send a spark across the gravel road, and the dry grass in our BARn field would catch, and send fire down that field to the BARn.
At least there were five or six men standing around, as if they might do something to attempt to stop such a conflagration.
Farmer H was off the hook for clueless burning. The BARn survived. I suppose those guys might work during the week, and wanted to do this task on Sunday. I would have gladly suffered swerving around those spindly road limbs in lieu of worrying about a wildfire destroying the BARn.
5 comments:
That wind is no joke, especially if someone is burning something at the time. I went to visit my dad and while walking through our backyard to the vehicle, a massive gust of wind came out of the North and caught me off guard. Good thing I'm not a lightweight or that would have knocked me off my feet, it was so sudden. And at 23 degrees, I can tell you I thought Winter was blowing in. Brr. (Earlier in the week, while windy, I kept smelling smoke and hoped someone was not being careless. Also made me think of the smoke from last summer from the Canadian fires that blew in here. It was nerve wracking because it was difficult to tell if it was something local or from Canada.)I can see why you would be concerned. Ranee (MN)
Rae,
Right after we moved into the Mansion, our next-door-neighbor's teenage daughter set the woods on fire behind us by carelessly burning trash. A flaming piece of cardboard or paper had jumped out of the trash barrel. Her dad was home, and tried to put it out with the garden hose, and dug a trench with just a shovel.
They called and told me to be ready if I had to leave. Genius was 3, and The Pony only a month old. Farmer H was at his bowling league. It was not a situation that a cedar-house-dweller wants to repeat! The woods are about 25 feet from our back (wooden) porch deck, with a wooden playset given to us by my mom and dad halfway between.
The guy didn't want to call the fire department (15 minutes away) because he hadn't bought his fire tag that year. Which means all costs of fighting a fire would be charged to him. It finally burned out without getting to our house.
Fires are nothing to play with! We use a burn barrel and stay outside with it until it is out, with a hose close at hand. Reminds me of an idiot that wanted to "work/camp". HeWho is a sucker for idiots and told him to clean firepits. The idiot cleaned some smoldering ash in one and dumped it in the woods! We did have to call the fire department. I can only assume that HeWho was not complete with instructions, thinking it was a given that you wouldn't shovel up embers. This might be why I always give instructions that will cover all the possibilities!
Your reply to Rae is scary! I'm glad the fire got put out and I bet that man never forgot to pay for his fire tag again. All unsupervised or out of control fires scare the h*ll out of me since I have family living in bushfire areas.
I worry about my immediate neighbours who smoke too, if they fall asleep while smoking and their flat goes up in flames, mine will too.
Kathy,
You ain't a-woofin'! Fire, like honey badger, don't care! Some people are just born idiots, I suppose.
***
River,
At that time, fire tags were $50 for the year. We paid two, one for our Mansion 10 acres, and another for the 10 acres up on the hill on another road. Even if we had called, WE didn't start the fire. So he still would have been responsible. $50 is cheaper than the cost of calling out all the equipment. People need to have common sense, like not letting their kids burn trash. And in your case, not smoking in bed!
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