Close your eyes and think about fire for just a moment. Think about the color, the smell, the heat, the intensity of it. Now think about that same fire almost surrounding your home. It is not a very good feeling is it? That is what happened to me in the summer of 1980. My dad and I were in the van, about to deliver a piano to someone. My parents owned a music store in Brainerd and I frequently went along to help with deliveries. My dad had just got a mobile phone put in the van a few weeks before. At the time, I couldn’t understand why something like that was needed. Talking on the phone while driving; how absurd. The phone rings and it is my mom. I could hear my mom yelling to my dad that the woods were on fire. Apparently …show more content…
it did not quite sink in as to exactly what she was saying. Then she made things more clear, our house was not on fire yet, but it was getting close! I certainly understood the need for it now, not because of the fire, but so that my mom could get ahold of my dad virtually no matter where he was. Remember we were on a delivery.
We had a piano in the back of the van, not strapped down or anything. My dad was always a very careful driver when delivering a piano or organ and never saw the need to strap something down. We would just wrap a moving blanket around one or two of the castors and away we would go. When my dad realized what my mom was saying, he hit the brakes and the piano flew forward, hitting the back of my seat. After asking if I was ok, which I was, my dad hit the gas. The piano then went backwards in the van, one of the legs snapping off and the piano fell over. Luckily it never hit the back doors or it would have gone flying out, just like you see in cartoons. We were driving faster than I had ever gone before. In fact, we were driving so fast, we literally passed a fire truck on its way to our …show more content…
house. We had 10 acres of woods and probably an acre and a half had been cleared for the house, garage, driveway and such. On the way to the house, we could see smoke rising into the air. I remember asking if that was our house on fire and my dad not answering. His eyes were glued to the road, both hands on the wheel. I don’t know just how fast we were going, but I did see that the speedometer needle was “buried” on the right side, meaning we were going faster than the speedometer could show. I quickly buckled my seatbelt. When we got to the house, my dad drove past the driveway and parked.
We could see the house and it was not on fire, but the smoke was coming from all around it. Someone had brought a backhoe in and we could see it about 200 yards from the house. They were digging a trench about 3 feet wide and was going in a semi-circle around the house. The fire chief later explained to my dad and I that the trench should stop the fire from advancing to the house and that overall, the fire was not really that big. We had had 4 or 5 days of rain just the week before and the fire was not all that big, just burning the dead leaves on the ground more than anything else. The fire chief further explained the fire was actually a good thing. I must have looked at him funny because he started laughing. He further explained that landowners would sometimes set small controlled fires, scorching the ground and that the following year, grass, plants and even wildlife would come back stronger than ever. That was the case with our fire. Days after the fire was out, my mom, dad and I walked along the trench that had been dug. Everything was black with few exceptions. I thought the fire chief had been pulling my leg earlier, telling me that things would be better than ever before. I think even in my mind I cussed him out just a bit. I couldn’t say the words I was thinking, at least not in front of my mother. I didn’t like the taste of
soap! Now flash forward to the following summer. Everything was green in the woods as far as the eye could see. I knew however, that the trench was still there even if I could not see it, and on the other side there would be nothing but a black barren wasteland with trees that were unaffected by the fire. We had marked a trail to the trench the summer before with white cloth wrapped around a tree here and there. I do not remember if my mom and dad had gone out to look at this point; if they did, not a word had been said. Imagine my surprise when what I saw on the other side of the trench was greener and much more lush than it was on my side. Then I saw the blueberries. Big, round, gigantic purple blueberries. Our “woods” were full of blueberries previous to the fire; my mom going out and picking ice cream buckets full of them. 5 or 6 at least. But when I saw the size of the blueberries on the other side of the trench, I knew there would be at least double that. It turned out, that first summer after the fire, my mom and I picked 17 ice cream buckets full. The fire chief had been right. The ground that the fire had burned was coming back greener and more plentiful than before. The soot was washing off the tree trunks and to me, they were even brighter on the fire side than the other. My mom even found some strawberry plants and the strawberries were almost twice as big as “normal”. My mom and dad swear they never planted those strawberry plants, but I’m certain one of them did. I have never heard of “wild” strawberries before, especially in places they were not there before. Those were some of the naturally sweetest strawberries I have ever had, even to this day. Fire is not always the disaster that people think it is in regards to woods or even a house. Sometimes it can be a good thing. Many fires (including ours) are set for one reason or another; it could be arson, it could be set trying to achieve the after effects like we had. Fire could also be accidental such as a lightning bolt striking a tree and setting it on fire. The burning leaves and branches fall to the ground and the fire spreads. The charred blackened ground remains and within just a few years, the wildlife that was sparse before comes back strong. The blueberries become jelly or pie. The lesson I learned way back when is that if controlled, if planned, a fire in the woods can be a good thing and I could have enough blueberry pie to last me a lifetime!
Fires were a very common obstacle at the time, but nothing was even close to the fire of 1871. On October 8th, firefighters received a call from the neighbor of Catherine O’Leary. Neighbors reported seeing a number of flames coming from the cow barn. Firemen instantly spotted the fire, but miscalculated how big it really was. This event was historically known as the Chicago Fire of 1871 (“People 7 Events”).
Wildfires started as an annual and seasonal occurrence in the south western region of California since the early 1930’s in part because of the hot dry summers and the hot dry turbulent Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert during the fall months. Now it has become a yearlong event (Mckay, 2010). These conditions greatly contribute to the “fire season” throughout this area. This set of circumstances in conjunction with downed power lines and humans that ignited fires took place in October of 2007. This led to a series of fires that burned more than 500,000 acres, destroyed 1,500 homes, killed 9, injured 85, and forced the successful evacuation of around 500,000 people out of harm’s way.
Jackson chuckled charmingly and shook his head a stupid grin on his face at his wife's playful expression. She was an odd case, difficult to figure out. She was a spectacular woman, with 10 parts cute, 10 parts gorgeous, 10 parts sexy and 70 parts intelligent. She was unique for a woman of the 1920's she was very much her own woman. Jackson could see just from his people watching earlier that all of the other female guest were certainly not their own woman. He'd pieced together that there was two other, likely married, couples on the boat with them. The women were a perfect example of a high class woman in the society of the 1920's, nothing like Natalie, or at least that's how Jackson saw it. One woman was very gossipy, almost chatting her
The Soviet Union lacked military strength but their bonds with other countries increased, causing them to have an advantage.
I woke up about 9 o'clock. As usual I turned on the TV. I saw a terrible image of one tower and a lot of smoke was coming out of it. Still not realizing what was happening, I went to another room to pack my stuff in order to go to college. At this time I was thinking that it was just a regular fire and nothing serious. When I got on the bus I saw unusual commotion among people. I could feel panic and fear among people. I wanted to use my cell phone to call my friend to find out if he’s ok, but it did not work.
I didn 't had any trouble trying to search the internet since I had access to a computer and internet connection in my house and school. Trying to look for a source to start searching didn 't gave me trouble either since I had a list of sources in hand. The first article that I explored was called (“Wildfires”) from the National Geographic Website. In the article I learned that depending on the weather conditions wildfires can have different reactions. For example in the article they stated that “Uncontrolled blazes fueled by weather, wind, and dry underbrush, wildfires can burn acres of land and consume everything in their paths in mere minutes” (“Wildfires”). I also learned the good effects that wildfires has on the environment. “naturally occurring wildfires are fundamental in nature as they return nutrients to the soil by burning dead trees, plants, and land. They also act as disinfectant by removing poisoning plants, insects, and all soft of dangerous things” (“Wildfires”). That 's the information that I learned from the article, and while it wasn 't much I did manage to find key information. Next I visited two more websites. The first one was actually a online magazine (“Into The Wildfire”) from The New York Times Magazine. The first thing that I notice was how clean, organized, and simple this online magazine was. it did however had a big flaw, it only concentrated on the way firefighters deal with wildfires, and didn 't
The first example of being frightened by fireworks was during a Fourth of July celebration shortly after I was
Not many people can say they’ve had a bird fly into their car while driving, but I can. It was about 2 years ago and my mom had just picked me up from volleyball practice. We both decided to roll down our windows as it was a beautiful spring day outside. Five minutes into the drive, the unthinkable happened. I looked to my left and saw a bird flying straight at me. Before I could even say anything the bird was inside the car and had hit me on the side. I screamed at the top of my lungs and we definitely would have won America’s Home funniest videos if it had been recorded. I was in full panic mode and my eyes were tightly shut closed. Now realizing what had happened my mom swerved into the nearest parking lot and we both ran out of the car.
The time went by slowly as my family and I waited for the fire to get put out. Eventually, the questions came at me in a wave "are you okay?" "What happened?" How do you answer if you are okay when you watched everything you owned disappear at once? How do you answer what happened when you were the one who turned on the stove? I felt defeated. I should never have turned on the stove. I should never have filled that stupid black kettle with water. It was my fault that people lost what they worked for. I had lost something that I cherished and caused other people the same pain I was feeling. I was
I was once driving a yellow Cadillac when I notice a hollowing collie. When I first noticed it I thought he was hurt so I pulled over. When I got out the car I instantly started smelling a smoke smell. As I approached the dog he ran off into the woods. I started chasing after him when I realized the forest was on fire. I had no idea what to do, so I then ran back to my Cadillac and dialed 911. I told them where I was and that we needed help immediately. They then arrived 10 minutes later.
With music blasting, voices singing and talking, it was another typical ride to school with my sister. Because of our belated departure, I went fast, too fast. We started down the first road to our destination. This road is about three miles long and filled with little hills. As we broke the top of one of the small, blind hills in the middle of the right lane was a dead deer. Without any thought, purely by instinct I pulled the wheel of the car to the left and back over to the right. No big deal but I was going fast. The car swerved back to the left, to the right, to the left. Each time I could feel the car scratching the earth with its side. My body jolted with the sporadic movements of the car. The car swerved to the right for the last time. With my eyes sealed tight, I could feel my body float off the seat of the car.
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.
It was Spring of my freshman year of high school, and I was standing in front of my school, laughing and talking with one of my best friends waiting for my Mother to pick me up. I could not wait to see her and tell her how amazing my day had been. The second I saw her white Honda Pilot pull into a parking spot I raced over to see her, but my Mom was not there. Instead it was my Dad in the driver’s seat. I was confused since usually I would have gotten a text or phone call that someone else was picking me up. He obviously saw the confusion on my face and said, “Your mom is at home with your brother Zach.” I did not
The fire came closer, lashing out at me as though it were a fiery whip. The indescribable pain was blinding, so much so that I couldn't think straight. I screamed and thrashed about helplessly as the raging flames engulfed me further. I wished that I could have ended it now but I knew that all I could do was to wait for the excruciating pain to kill me, though that seemed like an eternity away.
Looking back to when I was about the age of seven, my older brother who was nine at the time, and my younger sister who was only six had caught the backyard on fire. I remember it was a sunny afternoon and my father had just gotten home from working an overnight shift at his new job at Marshall Durbin. My mother had just left to go to work soon after, and my father had went to go lay down for a few hours sleep. We lived, practically in the middle of nowhere, in Carbon Hill with my grandparents. It was a single wide trailer that was tan in color and had a beautiful flat half acre backyard. The only people that we considered neighbors lived miles away from the house. We did not mind living far from people, because we liked the peace and quiet.