|
drought
Jun 23, 2014 19:21:02 GMT -5
Post by 12540dumont on Jun 23, 2014 19:21:02 GMT -5
Well, there I was in the kitchen making jam, minding my own business, when 2 fire trucks and then 2 more fire trucks go whizzing down my "private" road. Shit, my back field was on fire. 5 acres burned. If it's not one thing, it's another. Shit. Thank God the field was hayed and mowed and the fire came no closer than it did. The neighbor's fence and shed is burnt. No one knows how it started. I mean no one is telling how it started. Some bastard knows. Perhaps it was the fellow I told that he and his 3 best friends could not ride on my road or in my field? What a day. I think it's time for beer thirty. Tell me again, why am I in this hand basket and where are we going? foothillfarm.blogspot.com/
|
|
|
drought
Jun 23, 2014 19:50:25 GMT -5
Post by steev on Jun 23, 2014 19:50:25 GMT -5
As Pop, a WWII master sergeant of marines often said, "We don't know where we are, but we know where we're going." In my 40's, I realized the response was "Hell, if we don't change our ways!" That's why we're in this hand-basket.
If it's not one thing, it's two (or more)! Only the strong survive; the hard part is being lucky enough to be the right kind of strong to fit the situation; it's often not obvious what that will turn out to have been.
|
|
|
drought
Jun 23, 2014 20:14:13 GMT -5
Post by flowerweaver on Jun 23, 2014 20:14:13 GMT -5
Oh no! That's frightening. Should be investigated. Lives could have been lost by such a prank. Glad your fire department was on top of it. Hope the jam wasn't ruined! Is this disaster week for farmers or what?!
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jun 23, 2014 21:36:46 GMT -5
Every week is disaster week for farmers, somewhere. If we weren't up to that, we'd work at something much less connected to Nature; pessimists can't farm; it's too un-controllable; hence, too scary.
Had Holly noted their license plates, she could perhaps have gotten some action; otherwise, not worth the sheriff's time. Hell, in Oakland, gunshots are barely worth calling 911. If you hear a shot, you didn't get hit; go about your business. I am perhaps a tad fatalistic, but not terribly out of synch with my environment. I have never carried a gun, not even as a graveyard-shift cab-driver in the East Bay. "Bad" people could kill me; bacteria and fungi could kill me, as could bad genes: Death is certain, only when and how are unknowable, not whether. One must be optimistic, planting one's seeds, trusting that the Cosmos has nothing against you, personally, and that if you die before you harvest, you won't care.
|
|
|
drought
Jun 24, 2014 5:27:32 GMT -5
Post by philagardener on Jun 24, 2014 5:27:32 GMT -5
Whew! Quite a jam you almost were in!
Glad it didn't get further - you were fortunate the fire department responded so quickly. On the bright side (if there is one), now you have a good firebreak on that side as this drought continues.
|
|
|
drought
Jun 24, 2014 9:45:11 GMT -5
Post by dustdevil on Jun 24, 2014 9:45:11 GMT -5
I suspect the fire started in the vacinity of your neighbor's shed. The fire department should be able to give you their opinion on what the cause was. You have to get your ducks in a row in case your neighbor tries filing a lawsuit for damages against you or collecting from your property insurance. On the other hand, if they were at fault, their insurance could be responsible for your loss of a second cutting of hay.
Either way, it was an unfortunate event. Cudos for your local fire department responding in a timely manner.
Was the neighbor involved the good one or the bum one?
|
|
|
drought
Jun 24, 2014 10:54:26 GMT -5
Post by 12540dumont on Jun 24, 2014 10:54:26 GMT -5
These neighbors are new. It's so odd, about the time the fire started, my hay guy showed up, they were moving their equipment over to disk the field (to prevent fire). He'll be here on Thursday to take down the rest. We all think it started in that neighbor's yard. No one in California should be mowing after 10 a.m. in the morning. Or cutting firewood, or welding outside, etc. etc. It's a temperature and humidity thing. That neighbor is about 70, and is nice enough. I don't really know them as they just moved in this year. The bum neighbors are the ones in the big house with the dormers you usually see when I take photos of Dar's corn. They empty their cat litter on my field....and they paved my field across from their driveway.
In this part of California, we never get 2 crops of hay, not without irrigating. If I irrigated the hay would be horribly expensive.
The fire department said there is absolutely no evidence as to where the fire started. The wind changed directions while the fire was going. I'm just lucky that Cal Fire had a dozer right down the street and made it here in less than 5 minutes. It's tinder dry here folks. A neighbor's pine tree went up the other day and looked like a torch! Fast thinking on their part kept their house from going with it. Think torch 40' tall. Really scarey. Wife got up on the roof with hoses and saved their house.
The fire dept. also said that I would not be cited as the grass was less than 4 inches, which is proper for a hay field. I have a feeling that no one will come forward and own up to the fire, but at the same time, no one will make a claim for fear that there may be more investigation. This is my 2nd fire in 2 years. Makes me darn nervous. I wonder what kind of weeds the fire will bring up?
|
|
|
drought
Jun 24, 2014 12:51:36 GMT -5
Post by dustdevil on Jun 24, 2014 12:51:36 GMT -5
Interestingly, I was watching tv and a commercial came on saying that an ember from a wildfire could travel one mile!
No doubt, poorly arrested mufflers on gas engines are problematic under your current conditions.
|
|
|
Post by YoungAllotmenteer on Jul 6, 2014 2:37:17 GMT -5
Holly, I understand, having seen at close range a Eucalyptus plantation go up I know the 'torch' feeling!
|
|