Monday, April 13, 2009

Fire Starter




Back in the day, this guy was everywhere! He came to see us at school quite frequently...and consequently I learned quite a bit about fire, smoke, how to have a proper fire, how to put out a fire, and first aid.

Apparently, Smokey the Bear no longer comes to visit schools. Or at least hasn't visited the school where the kids in my neighborhood attend.

Here's how it went down.

Friday night, I am busy preparing for the yard sale. But this girl was tuckered out and need the rejuvenation that only ice cream can bring. So I start down the stairs open the door and what do I see?? FIRE!!!!!!!!!! in the woods directly behind our house.

So I yell for my Dad, and we go running out the back door. We stop because we hear talking and laughing. Okay, I feel only slightly better, so I turn to my Dad and say, "Shouldn't we say something? That could really get out of control quickly." To which he replies, "No, I think they are fine."

And amazingly enough, they were! Later, they put the fire out, and all was quiet again.

Fast forward to Sunday. I'm in my room, on the web cam with Sidnei, and I am mock packing my bags to see how much fits. When I hear a guy come up the driveway running and saying something about fire. So I look out and say, "Did you say fire?" "Yeah it's out back!" So I went tearing down the stairs, Dad was already on the phone with 911, he threw the phone to me, and ran out to attack the fire with his hose!

Let me tell you, the people from 911, I know it's there job, but the lady kept asking me how big the fire was....to which I didn't know! I just knew it was BIG and DIRECTLY behind my house....like 10 feet. So after asking me the thousandth time, I finally said LADY, if you want me to go out there with a tape measure I will!!

So she finally let me off the phone.

And let me tell you something else, if you don't need the fire department, they are there FIRST, but if you do, it takes them FOREVER. They live 2 minutes from my house. It took them 15 to get there. UGH.

So my Dad and a neighbor charged in and started hosing it down and miraculously they got it under control enough to where they contained it to where it had already burned! I was seriously impressed! Now keep in mind it had been raining recently, the problem is all the underbrush was still DRY and so it took off in a hurry. Thank goodness we were HOME! Normally we wouldn't have been. I don't even want to think about what could have happened....

ANYWAY, back to good ol smokey...

The reason the fire started up on Sunday is the stupid, stupid, stupid kids had been burning the fire in a metal trashcan. On Sunday for some reason, they decided to dump the trashcan. On OUR PROPERTY. The embers in the bottom of the METAL trashcan had held the heat. So it took nothing for them to light everything up in a matter of minutes. It really is scary HOW FAST everything caught on fire. Especially pine trees... Poor little black charred things...

The fire department came, and put everything else that was smoldering out. And I am SO thankful that we were home to be able to put that fire out, that no houses were lost, and no one was hurt while they were bravely trying to save our homes!! Though none of us can get rid of the SMOKEY smell from our hair or clothes, I suppose it is a small price to pay.

Though I would like to go ring those kids necks. And their parents for not supervising! Did I mention that we live in the city limits? In a planned neighborhood? We do have a small patch of woods where all kinds of creatures live, it is a development nonetheless. Have they not seen all the homes being destroyed all around the world from fires? GEEZ. Where were the parents????

Gracie watching the action!


The fire department closing up shop and draining the rest of the water out of the hoses!


It was an eventful Easter none the less!!

Oh yes, and poor Sidnei. I was on the web cam when all this was going on. He didn't know what happened, what was going on because I just took off! All he heard was something about fire. But all is well, his heart has now returned to normal beating patterns...

15 comments:

Lisa said...

BLess your heart, and Sidnei's. I am sure he thought the world was ending from where he was!
Kids do things not thinking and that is why they need supervision.
Take care, hope you have no more exciting moments before you leave town.

Lisa Q

Anonymous said...

Kids just don't think, do they? They had a ton of fire education when I was in school, too. Nowdays, I don't think kids even know who Smokey is! Crazy!

Kori said...

When we were kids the boys in my School used to make fun of Smokey Bear when he came.

The saying was

"Prevent Forest Fires Pee on a Tree"

Yep I went to School with some winners I tell ya.

Ballerina Girl said...

I remember Smokey...and bad bad kids...sometimes it makes you wonder WHAT are thinking!

As for your last post...YEA on the visa. It is a visitor visa, or semi-permanent?
Glad to hear Sidnei is doing well. I hope the days go by quickly for you both.
As for what to bring??? Why don't you just think of the things you really can't live without...then email me, or put it here, and we can let you know if you can find that here.
Bring a mix of clothing...for warmer and cooler weather. Bring your favorite "stuff" is what I would say!
BG

Mrs. M said...

Wow - good job on the quick response!! So glad it didn't spread!

Unknown said...

That is so crazy!! It reminds me of a story about Chris and 2 of his little friends when he was a youngster, starting a fire in the field behind his house. He was supposed to tell his parents and go to some fire safety thing, well his parents weren't home so he just took off when the police came HA HA We ALWAYS harass him about that story!

Anonymous said...

Oh I would have freaked out big time!

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Yikes! That is super scary.

My friend's friend's son (do you follow?) got burned over like 80 percent of his body after playing with matches.

Tabitha Blue said...

Oh my goodness, that is some serious stuff!! What a dramatic couple of days!! Smokie used to be popular, but you're right, he's not around too much anymore.

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Megan said...

Oh my goodness. Wow. That could've been really bad if you hadn't been home. Thank God you were. And I'm glad that Sidnei's heart is back to a regular beat. I can only imagine what he was thinking. Eek!

Michele said...

Oh my gosh...what is with kids these days...sheesh! I had to laugh tho at your last paragrah about Sidnei's heartbeat going back to normal. I can't imagine what he thought was going on!

Hugz,
Michele

P.S. I love your luggage..too cute!

Anonymous said...

Yowzers, I'm glad you're okay! We had a similar experience the summer we moved into our house. There was a "dinner train" that ran behind our house, and a couple minutes after it went by one afternoon I saw that our woods were ON FIRE!!! I made a panicky phone call to the F.D., grabbed my cat and wedding album, and threw them in the car. The fire was out in about 3 minutes and didn't even get any trees (just underbrush) so my husband still laughs at me for trying to save the cat from something the size of a bonfire. Can you blame me?

Unknown said...

That is horrible that they weren't being supervised. Glad none of you and that your house didn't get caught up in it. For the area where you are, they shouldn't have been burning at all.

Shannon said...

Story on my local news the other day... 9 yr old boy was with his mom shopping at Family Dollar (or Dollar General, I can't remember which). He wanted a toy but his mom said no... and went about her shopping. Boy was mad at his mom, so he took some matches from a shelf and went to the back of the store where the toilet paper is. And, you guessed it... lit the TP on fire. Burned the whole. store. down.. Over $1 million in damage.

Wendi said...

Yikes!
What about all the wild fires in and around MB?
I have been wondering how you were.
Are they contained now?
Take care!