Another great day, another great encounter with the Grand Bay Fire Department, or more commonly called the GBFD.  Saturday morning Nicole and I decided to do a little bit of yard work.  If you have never been to our house, we live on about an acre of land then have about 5 acres that is fenced off around the back yard and the side yard.  We thought that we would clean up some of that behind the fence on Saturday.  So we picked up the can of lighter fluid, got some matches and went to the first pile of wood we had made to get that started.  Something that we did not take into account was how much the wind would be blowing.  Just about the time that we got the fire going good, the wind picked up and started moving the fire a bit.  I was not afraid of that, but was not expecting what would happen once it reached all the high jap grass.  Holy Moley that junk catches like gasoline.

At that point I then asked Nicole to call the good ole boys at the GBFD.  Before they came, the fire got pretty large and caught the other 3 piles of wood on fire.  That is when I got scared because next to the last pile was all the woods that goes down behind Nicole’s dad’s rental houses.  I really did not want to burn all of those woods.  Before it got to that point the GBFD rushed on the scene driving through my neighbors yard and jumping out of the truck ready to hose the fire down to nothing.  One boy jumps out and starts the generator as the other cranks the hose out.  I’m getting pretty impressed at his point of their quickness until the one boy says, “turn er on!”  That was when I lost all hope in the GBFD because about 2oz of water came out of the hose and that was it.  Yes, you are correct, the GBFD came to my fire without any water in the tank.  The one boy then asked, “where is your nearest hydrant?”  I replied, “um, bubba, this is a private road.  there ain’t no hydrant anywhere around here.”

Guess what happens next, they leave.  It is hard to believe, but they came to a fire without water, and then left.  They did leave one boy there at the fire with a rake to try and put the fire out.  He was a bit unsuccessful with that though.  Finally the truck showed back up about 10 minutes later and the fire was at a simmer in about 3 or 4 leaves.  They put it out and went on their way.

A few things that I have learned from this experience is that one: don’t burn brush when there are rushing winds. Two: when burning always have a few buckets of water to control the fire.  And Three: When calling 911 make sure to tell them to tell the GBFD to make sure they have water in their truck before coming.  All in all it was a fun filled experience that we are still laughing about.

This is my life and I love it because Jesus Christ has given me his Salvation,
Chris Taylor