Don't Play with Matches

Almost every weekend, our neighbor across the street rakes up the leaves from his yard and burns them off. Well, evidently, he let one get away from him a couple of weeks ago. It started for us when we heard some shouting out in the street. I walked out on the balcony to see if there was a fight or someone selling something that was worth buying, or some other excitement.

From my balcony I could feel the heat of the fire. We're five stories up, and the flames were almost at eye level! A friend had left his car parked outside our house while he was traveling, so I ran down to move it away from the action. After I did, the fire truck came and parked right where that car had been and the firemen started unrolling hoses.

The truck is parked behind the trees to the left in this picture.

They unrolled the hose, and one of the firemen held the end of the hose up and got ready to spray. They opened the valve on the truck and… Do you see what’s happening here? The truck is to the left, still, and the water is gushing out on the ground. Seems someone forgot the all-important step of connecting the hose to the truck before opening the valve!

They did eventually get it all hooked together and got the fire under control. The protective layer of water also kept the street from burning up, I guess. The neighbor has erected a bamboo fence to replace the big arbor hedge he burned up. Two weeks later, every time we ride by that fence, Sawyer still says, “Look! That’s where the fire was!!”