Wildfire

One of the things that I like best about my house is that it backs up to a greenbelt. There's a dry creek bed and associated flood plain with lots of tall grass, small trees, and bushes. The nearest neighbor behind me is about 600 yards across the creek bed on a small bluff. This time of year the greenbelt would better be described as a brown belt. With our lack of rainfall last year, the grass and brush are very, very dry.

The entire State is under a burn ban and by now most have probably seen the wildfires wreaking havoc in north Texas. Up until a few days ago, we've been pretty lucky to have escaped the wild brush fires. The other day San Antonio had a raging brush fire on the far northern end of town in an area called Fossil Ridge. More than 100 acres were ravaged by fire, but luckily no people or homes were harmed.

This afternoon I stepped out into my backyard with Nickolas who immediately saw smoke billowing towards the house. We both ran through the gate in back to check it out, and we saw a brush fire spreading frighteningly fast. I ran in to call 911 and shook through the very short and to the point call. We started pulling our water hoses as far as they would go, and I had Erik spray down our fence and the brush behind it. My next door neighbor moved out months ago, but many of their things remain while they're in the process of relocating. Their house was actually a bit closer to the fire so I ran to get their hose to spray down their shed, fence, and grass. By the time I was spraying, many of the neighbors had mobilized with either shovels or hoses to try and douse the flames. By the time the fire department arrived about 20 minutes later, the neighbors had a good part of it under control.

There were a few very scary minutes before the fire was brought under control where the wind seemed to shift and swirl, and the flames got quite high and seemed to almost run toward the fenceline of my neighbor two houses over. Luckily the water that we were all spraying was enough to douse the large flames. The fire got within 50 yards of my yard, and that was more than close enough!

It was nice to see how the neighbors coordinated and acted so quickly. Many may not know their neighbors more than to wave hello in passing, but everyone pitched in to help each other today. Today's cooperative effort and camraderie among the people in the neighborhood renewed my faith in human nature.

It's suspected that kids were playing with fireworks out back. I'm not sure anyone was actually caught, but how careless and reckless. At the very least, I hope it scared the crap out of them so that they never do such a thing again.

Both my boys also did a great job of helping out, and tonight I'm more proud than usual. I had quite an adrenaline rush today and from start to finish the whole thing lasted a little over an hour, but the effects will be a bit more lasting.

Oh well, at least that area is no longer in danger of burning! Dang, I hope tomorrow is the usual uneventful Sunday. I've had my allotment of excitement.