4th of July Fire

 Well that was an exciting 4th of July! My parents came to visit on the fourth of July and my dad picked up some fireworks to add to our collection.  We were sitting about 75 feet away from where Ben was lighting the fireworks off and I was in charge of opening each one and having the fuse ready to go.  It was a nice evening and we could see big fireworks going off in the distance around us. 

Ben is always prepared and had a hose hooked up and ready to use in case of an emergency.  We just never expected the fireworks to mis-fire in opposite directions.  We got to the last one of the night, the biggest one with a fountain of sparks and 6 bursts in the air.  Every other one had gone off with out any issues but all night I kept worrying about what if one misfired and shot towards us.  The last one did.  I yelled run and paused for a second to grab Belle's hand.  One whizzed past my head and exploded right in front of me.  I was dazzled by it's brilliant colors and close proximity.  I had never seen anything like it so close up before but I quickly remembered we were in danger of being hit by one of those when I noticed Briscoe behind the mini-van waving me over to its protection.  It felt like we were under siege for a minute there and then Henry yelled fire! 

The fireworks had shot about 75 feet in the opposite direction of us into our overgrown grass field and lit it on fire.  The fire was growing pretty quickly and Sgt. Brubaker jumped into action with cool calm precision started barking orders.  

The hose was too short and he had us running to the other side of the property where we had to unhook hoses from the garden and where we water the animals from.  The boys worked quickly and once the hoses were free we all grabbed a section and started running them across our property like a fireman crew to where Ben and my 87 year old dad were trying to put out the fire.  

My dad thought Ben was going to run out of hose before he could reach the fire so he grabbed a shovel and started beating back the flames right in the middle of a raging grass fire.  He said later he was surprised by just how many hoses we had.  It was a blessing of the garden Ben's dad has set up for us and tended so carefully all summer.  I still can't believe Ben got that fire out and was so cool calm and collected throughout the whole ordeal. Even my dad kept asking when he was going to call the fire department.  

This is what Ben posted on facebook after we got the fire out:

Well that was a fun night. This is Ben. All I have to show of it right now is my dirty feet. Melissa brought me our "grand finale". It wasn't that big...we only had one or two fireworks that even went into the sky. It was supposed to be mostly shower and a few bursts in the sky.

Well it definitely burst. Everyone jumped out of their chairs because of the bursts...except Grandpa Jerry. I went to help him get away and I noticed a smile on his face. I think he was happy it was going to end in a blaze of glory but he made it out ok. Once the initial shock of all the bursts landing in the seating section ended we noticed the fire.

The burst went equal distance...about 75'...into our field and two fires were blazing. I am extremely proud of my crew! Once I got them all calmed down they jumped at every command. Running for hoses, linking them, finding shovels. It was only a matter of time before we had every hose connected and I was out in the field putting it out.

I kept ignoring the, "should we call the fire department?", questions. I didn't want to call unless it was too far out of hand. I knew those guys were either enjoying the 4th or fighting fires somewhere else. It took us about 35 or 40 minutes from start to finish. I am really proud of my crew! Peter and Henry were pulling hose like champs. Briscoe told me he and mom said a prayer while they were running for hose. Belle was screaming...poor girl we were a little busy.

Now the sprinklers are out keeping it wet. We will remember this one! Happy 4th of July!