What a beautiful day it was today! And, we got to enjoy it...for a while. We had stake conference today, so we were done with church by noon. After we got home and had lunch, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather (sunny and 60's), so we went outside and talked for a while and then read. Then, all of a sudden the wind shifted directions and got a lot stronger. So, we grabbed our camping chairs and ran inside. I then started getting a drink and looked out of our kitchen window to the south. As I was looking out, I saw a couple of puffs of smoke a couple miles away, and then some larger puffs. Then, there were some huge clouds of smoke billowing up. Kim and I grabbed the shovels and headed out to see where the fire was and if we could help. A couple miles down the road, we saw the fields that were burning and a couple fire trucks. So, we jumped out of the car and started helping to put out hot spots.
Apparently, one of our neighbors (out here, anybody within 10 miles is a neighbor) was trying to burn a small part of the field when the wind shifted and started to blow very hard, and the fire got out of control. There were several other neighbors that had come by to help. The fire was contained fairly quickly and no buildings were burnt. It was just a brush fire, but it could have been much worse.
When we got home, I decided to shower since I smelled very strongly of smoke and my face was quite dirty. I had to laugh as I took off my socks and saw a stark line of white and black (ash and soot). The ash had gone right through my pants. It was the worst tan line I've ever had :).
It was neat to see the sense of community out here. Of course, fires here spread very quickly, so if neighbors don't respond quickly, it could be their house/property that gets burnt next. So much for a quiet Sunday afternoon.
1 comment:
I hope you don't mind me blog stalking you! I found you through Hiedi's blog. It will be fun to keep up with your adventures!
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