Where there's Smoke

So what could happen if someone set fire to a brush pile and then didn't bother sticking around to see if the the blaze was going to stay contained? And just say that it dried out and we had a wind. A neighbour set fire to an old poplar stack. Didn't think it was necessary to monitor it. Imagine my surprise, shock and dismay when we came home to see this on our driveway:

That wasn't Ghost busters I was calling..

Fortunately, some other neighbours were driving by and gave me a hand with putting it out. The one who set the fire was 300 kilometres away.
It was touch and go in places but fortunately he had a couple of "Piss Cans" and there was a creek nearby that we could use to fill them up. And fill them up, and fill them up..repeat 'til the fire was out. It's an Ibuprophen day today.

I checked again at midnight last night and there were still hot spots glowing that I found when I turned out my headlamp. Me and my trusty smoke finder, Xena the wonder dog, got them all out. Today when I checked the burn with a faller friend of mine to see if anything else needed to be cut down it was out cold.

While he was here, Ken fell an old dried fir snag that was between two of the outbuildings. I was worried it could take out some of the outbuildings or even reach the house. He falls and skids for a living so it was nice to see a pro in action. Amazing how he could make a mark in the road and fall the tree on it.

I was thinking I would just cut it up for firewood, but my brother (who just happens to own a portable sawmill) mentioned it would make some nice lumber.

If pressed ( and not too heavily.. ) me other half will happily recount the story of my telling her to sit on the back of the truck to get out of the way of a tree that I was falling during one of our claiming sojurns. And then dropping the tree ( honest there was a big wind ) right on the truck..Well not the whole truck. Just the tailgate she was sitting on. Well, not when the tree hit. I did warn her. She can move amazingly fast when she has to.

So today I went to town and bought a couple of "Piss Cans" ( Honest I don't know what they are really called, this is what I call them. And everyone else I know) and a "Pulaski" ax. Later I have a fire pump and a couple of hundred feet of fire hose coming. And a truck mounted water supply. Just in case.