Finished Cleaning at Camp, and found a Grass Fire!!!

Well, I went to camp this morning to finish cleaning up the trailer, and haul the remaining stuff home. I wanted to be home by 1 pm so that I could attend my quilting group I had not been to in the last 7 weeks. We got just over a mile out of camp, and saw smoke. Lots of smoke. Around and behind a house. No one in site.... I sent my youngest (Chris) over to see if someone was behind the house. I think he was thinking I was over reacting, but when he got around the side of the house, he hollered at me to bring the shovel. Yes, there was a grass fire, and no one was around.

It was still small, probably no more than 6 -10 foot across, but the flames were a foot high. Chris started beating out the flames with the shovel and trying to make a "line" to isolate the fire. I couldn't find anything to help with, Chris hollered for me to go back to camp and get Ranger Bob. As you can guess, Ranger Bob was out, but I got the Trading Post Director, and her son, and stopped by Ranger Bob's shed for shovels. By the time we got back, Chris had stopped most of the advance of the fire, but we helped him put out the spots that kept flaring.

At this point we finally called for help. (Cell phones have limited coverage in this area, so you sort of have to walk around to get a good connection) The burn area was about 15 by 20. Then we noticed at the edge of the burn area was... matches.... a BBQ lighter... other things... We pointed these out to the fire dept when they arrived, and they called the sheriff. Some kid drove by on his bike, but instead of looking at the fire trucks, and showing a lot of interest, he kept his head down, and sort of peeked at us. I pointed him out to one of the fire fighters. When he went by the second time, the sheriff was there, and stopped him to talk to him. Yep, the little sh*t (as my father would have called him) probably did it (innocent until proven... but I understand he confessed, and I understand that the shoes he was wearing matched the imprint that someone had left on the BBQ lighter handle.)

I'm so glad we stopped and checked the smoke. The wind was gusty, and kept changing directions. The grass and pine needles are so dry, even if the rains have started again. And there was a horse farm across the road. If we'd left 10 minutes earlier or later, it might have been a very different outcome.

Well, my hubby will be going to Phoenix tomorrow for some meetings, and I will stay here to do some cleaning, laundry, flower planting, weeding, maybe sewing??, and visit with my son before he heads back to school this next weekend.

Take care, do some sewing, enjoy your friends and family.