My first experience with fire was a small human caused
wildfire. In a remote mountainous part
of the county I live in, a homeowner was burning cardboard behind his
house. There is a small flat yard, which
goes up a steep Virginia pine covered mountain slope. It is a southern facing slope, and was very
dry. Our fire seasons here are the
spring and the fall when the humidity is low, and this incident occurred in the
fall.
The homeowner thought the cardboard had completely burned
out, and went back inside. The fire then
grew and started up the slope. When the
family realized what happened they called 911, and began hauling buckets of
water up the slope. They also used their
garden hose to spray what they could reach.
Upon our arrival we hiked up the flank of the fire, and set
a line on a ridge above the fire. This
may sound crazy to western firefighters, but here in the southeast we often
attack the fire’s head. The fire’s advance was stopped and eventually
controlled.
This incident really showed me how easily a fire can start
and spread. The conditions were just
right for the small fire to become massive.
This area is very close to Smoky Mountains national park. If the fire had not been contained, it could
have burned a lot of forest.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It was an interesting read. I was putting myself in the shoes of the homeowner. It must have been rather scary when they realized they had started it. I guess they’re lucky it didn’t move toward the house. Even more fortunate is that it didn’t get to the park. I wonder why they thought they should burn cardboard in the first place? Seems like it would be easier to haul it to a recycling center. Anyways, it definitely makes me realize how we should all think twice before we start small seemingly harmless fires.
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