On the weekends, I work with the volunteer fire department.
- Around this part of the country it is absolutely necessary to have lots of volunteers.
When there is a fire, it is all hands on deck. I was working last weekend when a call came to the fire station. There was evidence of a fire burning on the north side of town and we had several calls. I was on the fire truck that was sent out to the call. The blaze was easy to contain. We had access to water closeby, so we didn’t need to worry about using the emergency tanks on the truck. It took about 30 minutes to completely douse the area with water and get rid of any evidence of burning or smoke. We were lucky that a lot of people called about the fire. Sometimes no one will call and the blaze will be out of control before we find out there is a problem. We were very lucky that more of the park wasn’t burned in the accidental fire. I was talking to the fire chief the next day after the scene of the fire was surveyed. A lit marijuana joint turned out to be the root of the fire. There are signs all over the parks and the areas near the north side of town letting people know how dangerous it can be to have a forest fire or throw cigarettes out of the vehicle. The lit marijuana joint was found in a patch of grass near the main road.