Close Call for the Ol' Rancho

At about 11am yesterday I walked outside to get in the car to go to the Post Office. Imagine my surprise when I saw 15 foot high flames shooting up from the brush that grows on my neighbor's property! I ran back into the house, grabbed the phone and dialed 911. I was told the fire was already reported and the fire department was in route. I ran over to the neighbor's house and did what I could with his garden hose while another neighbor did what he could with a shovel. After what seemed like an eternity (Laura assures me it was 10 minutes) the fire department showed up along with an inmate crew from Antelope fire camp. Those folks all (inmates included) do exceptional work! In no time they had the fire that I'd estimate to be 1/4 of an acre under control. During this time it threw embers on to my property causing 2 small "spot fires". I took a couple hours off work to run some sprinklers out in the area to make sure nothing was missed. It was quite the wake up call, especially to my neighbor who thought he had his burn pile from the early morning put out before leaving for work.

Here's a couple photos taken from my driveway. All the trucks you see are on my property. The spot fires that started were near where the green forest service truck is parked. My house is about 50 feet behind where I stood to take the photos. Close enough for me! I didn't get any shots of the fire actually burning since I was a tad busy at the time!



Note the large tank on the stand in the shade to the left of the frame of the following photo. At present it contains 125 gallons or so of 87 octane unleaded. Note also that there is a puddle next to it. Laura had the presence of mind to run some water in the area while I was over at the neighbor's house.




Was an interesting adventure for a bit; one that I'm not in a big hurry to repeat, thank you very much!