Fire

Last Friday.
Todd called, "Have you looked out the window in the last few minutes?"
"No. Why?"
"I need the number for the fire department. Go check the emergency numbers on the fridge to make sure it's not just 911. I think I'm going to need backup."
At this point I looked out the window (this picture was taken from my view then), in the far corner, I could see a large fire with a lot of smoke. I ran down to check the fridge and told him that it was just 911. He hung up and called the fire department.

I ran back upstairs to see what things looked like and the fire had easily doubled in size. We had a huge fire. The wind was blowing straight toward our storage units and home. I didn't want to overreact, but the time it took for the fire to get huge was astounding, so I grabbed the kids and threw them in the car. I was worried about Todd out there in the middle of things, so I drove around the field to the far side. I could see him at the outer edge of this huge fire with a face mask and two wet towels smacking the fire. (I guess there was a septic tank he was trying to keep the fire from.) I yelled for him, and he looked up and gave me an "ok" sign and then a "thumbs up." Gee. I'm not quite sure what part of that was great and ok, but I wasn't believing him. He tends to see the world through rose colored glasses. Usually, I love this about him. But in instances like this, it scares me. Being realistic can keep you safe.

I didn't want to be in the way when the fire department came, so I drove to the corner of our "block" to wait. On my way, it looked like the end of the world. Black smoke was billowing everywhere and I couldn't really see through it. Talk about anticipation. The fire department came hauling in a few minutes later and that made me feel better, but I didn't know if Todd was still ok, how far the fire had gotten, if I should have grabbed pictures, if ..... We prayed and prayed that things would go ok.

Now, I'm just immensely grateful that the wind wasn't blowing any harder, that the fire department exists and that they got there when they did, and that everything was ok. The fire got within about 20 ft of our units and burned about 70 percent of the 8 acre field. Fire's popped up all night and Todd had to keep going out to make sure they weren't out of control. The poor fire department had to keep coming because the poor folks in the neighborhood behind us kept getting fire scares.

You can't really see in this picture, but the fire carved through two areas like this. The one you can see diagonal and one across the back of the field. The only one Todd could really see from his vantage point was the one in back. He didn't realize the fire had gotten this close to our house and was pretty excited about the whole thing because he uses this field as his driving range and "now he'd be able to see his golf balls so much easier." Arrrrgh!

The fire was started by a man that cuts the hay in that field. He was baling the hay and his baler threw a bearing that caught on fire and turned into a grease fire and then caught the hay in his baler on fire. He kicked it out, and there it began. I guess Todd was outside and watched the whole thing...which is why he ran to grab wet towels and the face mask--which is surprising, and made me happy, because Todd is not really the "safety first" type of character.

Needless to say, I'm not really in the mood to go roasting marshmallow any time soon.