My fiery weekend

hot_pastrami · 07-07-2003, 12:44 PM

As some of you know, I bought new house about six weeks ago, one with an acre of horse property so my fiancée Britt could keep her horses. It's on the mountainside, and is really quite lovely property, though the house needs some work.

Well, Britt and I were planning a trip to Vegas last weekend, so we could pick out a wedding chapel to get married in. We were planning to leave Thursday right after lunch, and we weren't going to be back until Sunday night. Well, we were sitting in the living room eating lunch and talking when Britt let out a loud gasp. I turned to look at her, and she was looking into the backyard through the window. "I see fire!" she yelped. "The pasture is on fire!"

We hauled ass out the door and up the hillside, and the dry grass on the pasture was burning fast, and rapidly spreading. It was about 50 feet away from the house, and almost to the barn with the horse in it. I went for the hose that was connected to the barn, but the hose had burned already. So we opened up the barn so Britt could get her horse out, and I ran like a sonofabitch out front to grab the other hose, crashing through the side gate. I think I made it up the hill again in about three bounds (adrenaline is our friend) with the 120 feet of hose, attached it to the house, turned it on full force, and was on that fire like a pitbull on a pantleg. But, it had spread too much for a meager garden hose to handle. So I made sure Britt was out of the barn and well away from danger, and dashed into the house and grabbed to cordless phone, and ran out back again to slow the fire as much as I could with the hose as I directed the fire department to the house over the phone.

By this point Britt was doing what she could with the damaged hose and I had the other, but the best we could do was slow its spread, everything is too dry because of the last few years' drought, and it was munching up the fuel rapidly.

The police arrived first with a wail of sirens, an overweight officer trotting up the hill, directing me to drop the hose and get away from the fire because it was too dangerous. I did so until the fire starting spreading badly again, and then I just ignored his protests and grabbed the hose again. I had to put out a corner of the barn where it started catching fire, and I barely prevented it from speading to the neighbor's backyard. The fire department finally showed up with a pump truck about five minutes after the cops, but it took them another five minutes after they parked their truck before they were actually putting water on the fire... they did not have their shit together.

Once we had enough water to slow it down, it only took about 15 minutes to quell the flames, and another 30 or so spraying down what had already partially burned, to prevent flare-ups. I wasn't willing to leave town until we'd found the cause of the fire, but a short bit of looking around revealed the cause.... an electrical relay on a power line high above our property had gone bad, and was dropping sparks on the ground. We got the power company out there, and they replaced the relay.

All in all, damage wasnt bad. The barn needs a little repair, some of the yard's landscaping got completely toasted, and some wooden fences are badly scorched, but luckily we caught it before it got really bad. We each got one minor burn, but nothing bad at all. It's scary to think that we could easily have left for the weekend without noticing the fire out back, and who knows what would have been lost. Ick. Actually, there was a small flare-up again due to a piece of fencing which was still smoldering while we were gone, but fortunately it couldn't spread because it was in a place where almost everything around it had already burned.

Anyway, that was my big excitement for the pre-weekend. Vegas was damn fun though.

warch · 07-07-2003, 02:31 PM

Yikes! Sounds like you used up a lot of luck before hitting Vegas. I'm glad the damage is minimal. So would a deep moat be totally out of the question?

hot_pastrami · 07-07-2003, 02:37 PM

A deep moat would probably not be possible and/or practical. I do, however, plan to buy a load of gravel once I can afford it, and spread it below that power pole so future sparkings won't be as likely to lead to disaster. Sure, it's very unlikely to happen again in the near future, but the peace of mind will be worth it.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-07-2003, 04:18 PM

How's the horse? Freaked? I've seen horses run back into a burning barn because of all the smoke and noise from firefighters.

hot_pastrami · 07-07-2003, 04:21 PM

Nah, the horse is OK. Luckily, all he got exposed to was a little smoke and noise, we got him out pretty quick. He was more curious than scared. He's only a yearling, still pretty young.

My fiancée actually has another horse, but luckily he was away at a horse traininer... the fire went right through his empty stall. That would have been bad.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-07-2003, 04:25 PM

Cool

Elspode · 07-07-2003, 09:06 PM

Glad to hear you won the battle with Fire, Alan. I assume insurance will cover most of the damage?

It is always good to hear a happy ending to something that could have been a disaster.

jennofay · 07-08-2003, 12:23 AM

wow. glad to hear things turned out well for you. fires suck, no doubt about it.

hot_pastrami · 07-08-2003, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Elspode
Glad to hear you won the battle with Fire, Alan. I assume insurance will cover most of the damage?

Well, I'm probably not going to make a claim. For some reason insurance companies get really grumpy when you want some of your money back, and sometimes jack up the rates. The damage is pretty minimal, so I figure I'll just put in the time and money myself unless I can talk the power company into recouping some of the cost without going through insurance.

zippyt · 07-08-2003, 05:03 PM

Glad to hear that the horse is well , they can Freak at fire .
A hose ain't the best way to fight a brush fire , hoses do help but the all mighty shovel is king in this situation. Just dig in front of the fire and throw the dirt on the fire , this will do 2 things ,
1) it will smother the fire ,
2) it will deprive the fire of material to burn ,
Then you hose out the embers .
This is how we did it in Cali . when I was a marine and used to get "volentered " for fire fighting details .

hot_pastrami · 07-08-2003, 05:11 PM

Well, I know that a shovel is the better tool, but in these circumstances it wouldn't have worked really well. The brush, we had almost cleared all of that out already before the fire, so there was little enough fuel that it was not too hard to extinguish with the hose. The hard part was a huge line of evergreen bushes... they were a little dry due to drought conditions, plus this type of bush is full of flammable pitch, so they went up fast. And because the bushes are large and up against one another, there was no way to dig a ditch to stop the fire's progress... and because they're up off the ground a little, throwing dirt on them is ineffective. A lot was working against us.

One good thing is that we hated those bushes anyway, and had planned to remove them from day one, so now part of that job is done for us. We've only been in the place about two months, and this was a hell of a house-warming present.

zippyt · 07-08-2003, 05:33 PM

Well at least you don't have to cut those bushes down now

),,,
we live in the woods on 2 aceres , most of wich are wooded . We had talked about clearing some of the under growth from the woods and i was DREDDING it !!!!! One saterday morning i went out to the brush pile we had been accumulating( if you live in the country EVERY body has a brush pile and burns them regurely ), cleared around it with my small tractor and a box blade ( scraped all the pine needels and stuff away from the pile ) and hosed the edges untill they were TOTALY soaked , and pitched a match in the pile . It went WHOOSH !!!! We had a merry fire , i used the box blade to push the fire to the center and watched for and stray embers untill the pile was reduced to a small smoldering pile of ashes , these i spred and hosed until there was NO smoke comeing from them at all. At this point i went in side to cool down and have lunch.
About 45 minets later my wife said "OH SHIT THE WOODS ARE ON FIRE !!!!!!!!" Under neath the brush pile was a whole butt load of shingles . These F**KING things DON'T go out , they smolder for days and had started the fire all over again . It took us 1-2 hours to put the woods out , but guess what , most of the under growth went up in smoke so i didn't have to clear it

))))

xoxoxoBruce · 07-08-2003, 05:35 PM

I'm sure glad it wasn't a "housewarming" present. I'm sure you are too.

hot_pastrami · 07-08-2003, 05:56 PM

I was wondering if anybody would catch that. Heheh.

07-07-2003, 12:44 PM	#1
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	My fiery weekend As some of you know, I bought new house about six weeks ago, one with an acre of horse property so my fiancée Britt could keep her horses. It's on the mountainside, and is really quite lovely property, though the house needs some work. Well, Britt and I were planning a trip to Vegas last weekend, so we could pick out a wedding chapel to get married in. We were planning to leave Thursday right after lunch, and we weren't going to be back until Sunday night. Well, we were sitting in the living room eating lunch and talking when Britt let out a loud gasp. I turned to look at her, and she was looking into the backyard through the window. "I see fire!" she yelped. "The pasture is on fire!" We hauled ass out the door and up the hillside, and the dry grass on the pasture was burning fast, and rapidly spreading. It was about 50 feet away from the house, and almost to the barn with the horse in it. I went for the hose that was connected to the barn, but the hose had burned already. So we opened up the barn so Britt could get her horse out, and I ran like a sonofabitch out front to grab the other hose, crashing through the side gate. I think I made it up the hill again in about three bounds (adrenaline is our friend) with the 120 feet of hose, attached it to the house, turned it on full force, and was on that fire like a pitbull on a pantleg. But, it had spread too much for a meager garden hose to handle. So I made sure Britt was out of the barn and well away from danger, and dashed into the house and grabbed to cordless phone, and ran out back again to slow the fire as much as I could with the hose as I directed the fire department to the house over the phone. By this point Britt was doing what she could with the damaged hose and I had the other, but the best we could do was slow its spread, everything is too dry because of the last few years' drought, and it was munching up the fuel rapidly. The police arrived first with a wail of sirens, an overweight officer trotting up the hill, directing me to drop the hose and get away from the fire because it was too dangerous. I did so until the fire starting spreading badly again, and then I just ignored his protests and grabbed the hose again. I had to put out a corner of the barn where it started catching fire, and I barely prevented it from speading to the neighbor's backyard. The fire department finally showed up with a pump truck about five minutes after the cops, but it took them another five minutes after they parked their truck before they were actually putting water on the fire... they did not have their shit together. Once we had enough water to slow it down, it only took about 15 minutes to quell the flames, and another 30 or so spraying down what had already partially burned, to prevent flare-ups. I wasn't willing to leave town until we'd found the cause of the fire, but a short bit of looking around revealed the cause.... an electrical relay on a power line high above our property had gone bad, and was dropping sparks on the ground. We got the power company out there, and they replaced the relay. All in all, damage wasnt bad. The barn needs a little repair, some of the yard's landscaping got completely toasted, and some wooden fences are badly scorched, but luckily we caught it before it got really bad. We each got one minor burn, but nothing bad at all. It's scary to think that we could easily have left for the weekend without noticing the fire out back, and who knows what would have been lost. Ick. Actually, there was a small flare-up again due to a piece of fencing which was still smoldering while we were gone, but fortunately it couldn't spread because it was in a place where almost everything around it had already burned. Anyway, that was my big excitement for the pre-weekend. Vegas was damn fun though. __________________ Hot Pastrami!

07-07-2003, 02:37 PM	#3
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	A deep moat would probably not be possible and/or practical. I do, however, plan to buy a load of gravel once I can afford it, and spread it below that power pole so future sparkings won't be as likely to lead to disaster. Sure, it's very unlikely to happen again in the near future, but the peace of mind will be worth it. __________________ Hot Pastrami!

07-07-2003, 04:18 PM	#4
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	How's the horse? Freaked? I've seen horses run back into a burning barn because of all the smoke and noise from firefighters. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-07-2003, 04:21 PM	#5
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	Nah, the horse is OK. Luckily, all he got exposed to was a little smoke and noise, we got him out pretty quick. He was more curious than scared. He's only a yearling, still pretty young. My fiancée actually has another horse, but luckily he was away at a horse traininer... the fire went right through his empty stall. That would have been bad. __________________ Hot Pastrami!

07-07-2003, 04:25 PM	#6
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Cool __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-07-2003, 02:31 PM	#2
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	Yikes! Sounds like you used up a lot of luck before hitting Vegas. I'm glad the damage is minimal. So would a deep moat be totally out of the question?

07-07-2003, 09:06 PM	#7
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	Glad to hear you won the battle with Fire, Alan. I assume insurance will cover most of the damage? It is always good to hear a happy ending to something that could have been a disaster. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

07-08-2003, 12:23 AM	#8
jennofay ..the small and meek. Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: virginia Posts: 176	wow. glad to hear things turned out well for you. fires suck, no doubt about it. __________________ i sneak up and hit you like a fuckin' tornado

07-08-2003, 05:03 PM	#10
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	Glad to hear that the horse is well , they can Freak at fire . A hose ain't the best way to fight a brush fire , hoses do help but the all mighty shovel is king in this situation. Just dig in front of the fire and throw the dirt on the fire , this will do 2 things , 1) it will smother the fire , 2) it will deprive the fire of material to burn , Then you hose out the embers . This is how we did it in Cali . when I was a marine and used to get "volentered " for fire fighting details . __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

07-08-2003, 05:11 PM	#11
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	Well, I know that a shovel is the better tool, but in these circumstances it wouldn't have worked really well. The brush, we had almost cleared all of that out already before the fire, so there was little enough fuel that it was not too hard to extinguish with the hose. The hard part was a huge line of evergreen bushes... they were a little dry due to drought conditions, plus this type of bush is full of flammable pitch, so they went up fast. And because the bushes are large and up against one another, there was no way to dig a ditch to stop the fire's progress... and because they're up off the ground a little, throwing dirt on them is ineffective. A lot was working against us. One good thing is that we hated those bushes anyway, and had planned to remove them from day one, so now part of that job is done for us. We've only been in the place about two months, and this was a hell of a house-warming present. __________________ Hot Pastrami!

07-08-2003, 05:33 PM	#12
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	Well at least you don't have to cut those bushes down now ),,, we live in the woods on 2 aceres , most of wich are wooded . We had talked about clearing some of the under growth from the woods and i was DREDDING it !!!!! One saterday morning i went out to the brush pile we had been accumulating( if you live in the country EVERY body has a brush pile and burns them regurely ), cleared around it with my small tractor and a box blade ( scraped all the pine needels and stuff away from the pile ) and hosed the edges untill they were TOTALY soaked , and pitched a match in the pile . It went WHOOSH !!!! We had a merry fire , i used the box blade to push the fire to the center and watched for and stray embers untill the pile was reduced to a small smoldering pile of ashes , these i spred and hosed until there was NO smoke comeing from them at all. At this point i went in side to cool down and have lunch. About 45 minets later my wife said "OH SHIT THE WOODS ARE ON FIRE !!!!!!!!" Under neath the brush pile was a whole butt load of shingles . These F*KING things DON'T go out , they smolder for days and had started the fire all over again . It took us 1-2 hours to put the woods out , but guess what , most of the under growth went up in smoke so i didn't have to clear it )))) __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner Last edited by zippyt; 07-08-2003 at 05:36 PM.*

07-08-2003, 05:35 PM	#13
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	I'm sure glad it wasn't a "housewarming" present. I'm sure you are too. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-08-2003, 05:56 PM	#14
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	I was wondering if anybody would catch that. Heheh. __________________ Hot Pastrami!

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