Monday, May 19, 2008

Playing with fire

Saturday nights are supposed to exciting right? Well, we had us some excitement that we would have happily done without this past Saturday night.

It was a long weekend here, today is Queen Victoria's birthday, I think, it's called Victoria Day so maybe it's not her birthday, maybe it's just her day. I have no idea, what a good member of the British Empire I am. Wait, is it even still called the British Empire?

Where was I going with that?

Right, it's a long weekend. We spent the weekend at my parents house since we didn't make it up for Mother's Day we celebrated it this weekend. Saturday night found us all (minus my Dad who is at his brother's farm helping out with the seeding) hanging out. My bro and his family were there and we were trying to settle the kids down for the night. All four of them in one room to sleep equals much laughter, squealing and then the obligatory "BE QUIET!" from the adults.

Mom, with her superior olfactory senses had been smelling smoke for awhile. Dad is on the volunteer fire dept for their rural area but since he was out of town, no word came in.

Then a neighbor called. Mom stepped outside to see a huge plume of smoke to the west (maybe, I am so good with directions it could have been east – when I was standing in front of their house it was to the right of the house, does that help?).

There was indeed a fire. Trevor (my illustrious brother) and Mom went for a quick drive to check it out. The fire? On the back 40 of an acreage three down from ours. This is the red glow that could be seen from the riding ring adjacent to the house:

Photo courtesy of Jay

We deemed it close enough that we should leave the house, just in case.

Want to see some kids shake? Tell them there is a fire close to Grams and Pop’s house. We discovered that works quite nicely.

We loaded everyone up including Kricket the dog and Jessie the cat and headed to wait at the Fire Hall for word it was under control.

We got home around 11:30 and put the kids down. In the meantime both Jay and Trevor headed out to see if they could yeild some shovels and help out.

By the time they both were home it was 2 am.

Good times, good times.

Thankfully the only harm done was to some of the beautiful natural bush out back of the house on that acreage. Who knows how it started but the idea of human help is very likely since it's spring and not really ideal natural fire conditions.

Here are some pictures of the scene the next morning. It was still smoldering in many spots though it is hard to make it out in the pictures. And the stench? Let me tell you, not pleasant.









On the walk over to the scene, these dainty, tiny little flowers were growing on the path. The Prairie fauna is delicate and hardy. It's breathtaking if you take the time to appreciate it.

Hopefully I can use this as a nice reminder to my children that fire in any form is never to be underestimated.



Photobucket

15 comments:

mamatucci said...

Yikes, that can be scary cause fire can spread so fast. When we lived in BC afew years ago, it was those huge wildfires. Our entire city smelled funky for weeks.Luckily there was a river across the way,keeping us safe.

Karen MEG said...

Fire can be terrifying. And in the bush, I can imagine how quickly that could spread.
Not the best Vic Day celebration, sorry about that Kami! But thankfully no one was hurt.

We had some fireworks last night which the kids just loved. Nowhere near the bushes, though ;)

Anonymous said...

That is so scary and I'm so glad no people or animals were hurt. Thank goodness you are all safe.

I am always amazed at how the earth can renew itself, especially when there is no human intervention. And yes, some of those pretty little flora are also tougher than they look, huh? :)

Unknown said...

Oh no! Not fun. I am glad everyone is okay. Fire scares the bejesus out of me!!

Anonymous said...

Oh Kami, how frightening! I'm sorry for the devastation in the bush, but so thankful that no people or animals were hurt.

Anonymous said...

Wow, glad no one was hurt.

And I do believe it is Queen Vicky's birthday today.

Kristin said...

Fire is scary stuff. Thankfully it all ended well.

Victoria day is a celebration of the queens birthday. The holiday used to be on the 24th her actually birthday, but the holiday was moved a long time ago so that we would have along weekend. It was moved to be the first Monday that happened before the 24th of May.
I just learned that yesterday, funny that you talked about it today. :)

Ed (zoesdad) said...

Fire scares the bejeebers out of me. We had a house fire about 3 years ago and I've a whole new respect for it. And a whole new appreciation for the volunteer fire department.

Gload to know everyone is safe.

Anonymous said...

Fires freak me the heck out. But you knew that.

I'm glad nobody was hurt!

Ashley said...

Fires are so scary! We were in Kelowna the year of the fires and it really reminds a person of God's unbelievable power.

So glad to hear that everyone is alright and that nothing major was lost!!!

Natalie said...

ewwwww, that is a terrible smell. glad everyone is okay!

Kellan said...

Oh My, how scary - so glad that is as close as it got!!

Take care and I'll see you soon - Kellan

KATE said...

Well Holy cRap I'm glad it only did as much damage as it did! I'm sorry for the nasty scare! Yuck!!

Misty said...

We had a fire on the mountain where we lived in an apartment when Ian was a new born. The stress, fear!! I feel for you!

Anna-b-bonkers said...

Wow, that is freaky! Glad no one was hurt and it didn't get out of hand, it is so dry out there right now!
What a weekend!
Glad Jay and Trev lent a hand, you guys rock!
(that is a lot of !!! yikes!!)