tuesday
Yesterday morning Candy and I hiked around the Erie Wildlife Refuge on the Tsuga Trail and the Beaver Run Trail.
Afterwards we had lunch at the Kay's Cardinal Country Restaurant. I came home and was taking my afternoon nap when Dave called to tell me that he had accidently started a fire on one of his properties and the firemen had just left. He wanted to stay till evening to keep a watch over it to make sure no embers remained - would I bring him a drink and something to eat?
Pictures of charred woods and more of the story:
Dave was cutting steel pipes with a cut-off saw on the dirt road beside these woods. Cut off saws make sparks so he knew enough to not use the saw in the woods this time of year but the road seemed safe. He was just finishing up and going to load the pipes into his truck when he turned around and there was a 20 square foot area of fire behind him. A wind had come up and was blowing that way and all the smoke was blowing away from him. The only tool he had with him was a 5 gallon plastic bucket. No shovel or rake - something that he'd usually have but didn't yesterday. He tried stomping out the fire with his feet - (wearing sandals) and with the bottom of the bucket. He'd got the fire pretty much out and went to a little stream a distance away to get water but when he got back the fire had spread more. He could see then it was hopeless for just one man with no tools and called 911. The wind was blowing too hard and spreading the fire too fast. I can just imagine how terrible he felt. Anyway, then he had to drive out the long rutted woods road (nearly a mile) to be at the end of the lane so he could direct the firemen to the fire. By the time he got back it was way worse. He figures it engulfed about 3/4 of an acre. But I think we should be thankful that it was only that and that Dave didn't get hurt fighting it. One of the firemen was telling about an older man just last week who died fighting a brush fire in his yard - overcome by smoke.
The firemen left him this back pack water sprayer in case he found something more that needed doused. They said he could return it the next day. One of the firemen lives very close to there.
I thought that this was interesting. Some of the firemen fight the fire by dousing the woods with hundreds of gallons of water from the tanker truck while other firemen create a fire break on the edge of the area with rakes and leave blowers. Other firemen cut up fallen logs so they can turn the logs and check for embers under them. These are cut up logs that were moved. I am so impressed with firefighters. Brave smart men.
This was an area where years ago oil men had pipes and an oil tank in the woods. Thank goodness this was all old stuff and had no oil in it anymore.
Dave making the rounds checking for embers as we waited for nightfall. They figured by then 6 hours would have gone by and if there was any fire left lurking it would be dead by then. At nightfall one of the firemen who lived close by stopped by and checked in with Dave. They walked the property one last time and thought it was safe to leave for the night. Dave left home early this morning with Andy to check it again. He'll leave Andy in the truck while he looks it over - we don't need all that black dirt on Andy's feet. It'll be interesting to see how the regrowth does here. Maybe a few of the bigger trees got damaged beyond repair but most will survive. I thought it was interesting how soon some wildlife came back. I saw quite a few robins hopping around looking for something.
Onward. The main thing on my agenda today is taking Rainy to the groomers for her haircut. She really needs it poor little thing.
Afterwards we had lunch at the Kay's Cardinal Country Restaurant. I came home and was taking my afternoon nap when Dave called to tell me that he had accidently started a fire on one of his properties and the firemen had just left. He wanted to stay till evening to keep a watch over it to make sure no embers remained - would I bring him a drink and something to eat?
Pictures of charred woods and more of the story:
Dave was cutting steel pipes with a cut-off saw on the dirt road beside these woods. Cut off saws make sparks so he knew enough to not use the saw in the woods this time of year but the road seemed safe. He was just finishing up and going to load the pipes into his truck when he turned around and there was a 20 square foot area of fire behind him. A wind had come up and was blowing that way and all the smoke was blowing away from him. The only tool he had with him was a 5 gallon plastic bucket. No shovel or rake - something that he'd usually have but didn't yesterday. He tried stomping out the fire with his feet - (wearing sandals) and with the bottom of the bucket. He'd got the fire pretty much out and went to a little stream a distance away to get water but when he got back the fire had spread more. He could see then it was hopeless for just one man with no tools and called 911. The wind was blowing too hard and spreading the fire too fast. I can just imagine how terrible he felt. Anyway, then he had to drive out the long rutted woods road (nearly a mile) to be at the end of the lane so he could direct the firemen to the fire. By the time he got back it was way worse. He figures it engulfed about 3/4 of an acre. But I think we should be thankful that it was only that and that Dave didn't get hurt fighting it. One of the firemen was telling about an older man just last week who died fighting a brush fire in his yard - overcome by smoke.
The firemen left him this back pack water sprayer in case he found something more that needed doused. They said he could return it the next day. One of the firemen lives very close to there.
I thought that this was interesting. Some of the firemen fight the fire by dousing the woods with hundreds of gallons of water from the tanker truck while other firemen create a fire break on the edge of the area with rakes and leave blowers. Other firemen cut up fallen logs so they can turn the logs and check for embers under them. These are cut up logs that were moved. I am so impressed with firefighters. Brave smart men.
This was an area where years ago oil men had pipes and an oil tank in the woods. Thank goodness this was all old stuff and had no oil in it anymore.
Dave making the rounds checking for embers as we waited for nightfall. They figured by then 6 hours would have gone by and if there was any fire left lurking it would be dead by then. At nightfall one of the firemen who lived close by stopped by and checked in with Dave. They walked the property one last time and thought it was safe to leave for the night. Dave left home early this morning with Andy to check it again. He'll leave Andy in the truck while he looks it over - we don't need all that black dirt on Andy's feet. It'll be interesting to see how the regrowth does here. Maybe a few of the bigger trees got damaged beyond repair but most will survive. I thought it was interesting how soon some wildlife came back. I saw quite a few robins hopping around looking for something.
Onward. The main thing on my agenda today is taking Rainy to the groomers for her haircut. She really needs it poor little thing.