Yesterday began like any other day. Little did I know that by noon I would have dialed 911 for the first time in my life. It seems like a tiny ember from a scrap wood fire was smouldering under a metal fire pit since Sunday morning, and yesterday, 2 days later, it had gotten enough life in it to start a fire.
My house is next to the woods on the driveway side and when my son Michael went out to put some trash in the bin, he saw this large area, about 20 by 25 feet on fire with flames a foot high. He quickly ran into action, getting our garden hose and a 5 gallon spackle bucket to try and put out the blaze.
I had seen some smoke from my art studio window about a hour before, it looked to be at the end of my driveway and across the street. I did go into the kitchen and look at all the windows, into the backyard, and across the street. Unfortunately this area of the property was out of view.
Since my sub division is out of city limits, we are allowed to burn yard debris, I mistakenly assumed that a neighbor was doing just that. This time of year, it is not unusual for that to happen. I then went upstairs to take a shower.
It was about 15 minutes later when Michael came up to my bathroom and asked for my help. All that time he had been fighting the fire by himself, managing to stay calm the whole time.
We ran outside and I helped with the hose , while he used the bucket. He had managed to get about 85-90% of the fire under control. I ran back inside to call 911 and within a short time, they had sent out fire dept.
These guys are really good, and they are all volunteers. They commended Michael on what a good job he had done before they got there.
After it was over, I said a prayer of thanks that all was ok. It could have been so much worse. You begin to think of all the what ifs???.
what if-
the fire would have started during the nite?
if Michael hadnt gone outside to throw away the trash?
we had gone to the gym like we were planning to do earlier in the day?
we would have been out for the day?
or if our 12 1/2 year old Lab, Madison was outside instead of in the house. This is where she lays when she is outside, and with her failing eyesight, hearing, and all other faculties, would she have had the sense to get out of there?
In the end~ all ended well.
Thank you God~
Thank you Michael~ our hero!!!
Many thanks for stopping by...
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