The Lord was keeping us today, safe and sheltered ,as is His is habit where His children are concerned.
It was fairly warm here today. High around 60 , winds very strong, about 30 mph out of the southwest. It has been very dry and humidity was at o%. Warnings about fire dangers on the news and radio. We live next door to the Lt. Fire Marshall for our county. Comforting, until today. That gentleman , for some reason, saw fit to kindle a small fire in his back yard. He lives on 15 acres we sold him about 13 years ago. He has a nice house and barn, good people, not very friendly, but not any real trouble either. Until he set the pasture on fire and almost burned down the neighborhood today. Seems like he would have been the person that would have known better. Being he is the Lt Fire Marshall!
It got pretty scary. We live way out and when I heard a siren I knew it had to be to close for comfort. I went out the back door and saw my sister and her husband running toward the back yard dragging water hoses. ( They have a mobile home in my back pasture) My step-mom was standing on her porch trying to call me. I was calling to her across the yard , but she was trying to get me on her cell phone. She was very hysterical. ( Her and dad live in a mobile behind my barn.)
My hubby had just left for work about 45 seconds before I ran out side. He came flying back up our long drive way and calling for us to all get out side. I felt pretty silly when I got outside, I had grabbed a fire extinguisher from the kitchen. But I saw a huge black wall of smoke and flame tearing across the back pasture. Needless to say I sat it down.
But soon dozens of emergency vehicles were flying down our dead end street and into the neighbors pasture and yard. They were very efficient. The fire did reach a mans barn on the far side of the pasture, but the trucks were there and kept it from burning the barn. It raced , moving very fast in the high winds, about a mile to the northeast of our place , leaving a path about as wide as a football field. All we could do was watch and pray they would get it out before the wind shifted a bit. It sure would not have taken much of a shift to get my dad's and sisters homes. My BIL stood out at the fence line with a water hose and tried to watch for any sparks or stray hot spots. He sure looked small standing in front of those flames with a little garden hose!
The neighbor ( the one who started the fire) has about six large round bales of hay sitting along our common fence line. They did not catch fire, but the one a bit of to the side he had out for his horses did. It had to be put out over and over again.
But the fires did all get put out and things calmed down again. I still have not found my very adventurous , curious tom who was out in the yard. Sure hope the little guy is hold up in the barn or somewhere safe. It is in the 20's out tonight and the winds are back. He is not used to the cold. But I do have a small nagging fear he might have gotten ran over by so many trucks and emergency personal in and out of the pasture today. But I tend to worry to much about my animals.
Grandma Rosie
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• Wed 2 Jan 2008 - <i>Untitled Comment</i>
Blessings
Faith Farm
Imagine how my ancestors felt, I am a sixth generation Texan, when the big prairie fires roared through here. They did have dozens of fire teams responding to the need. Praise God for His protection.
Grandma Rosie
Edited by GrandmaRosie on Wed 2 Jan 2008 at 1:17 PM