Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Stepping Up


After a beautiful day in the sun, I decided to take a longer walk home through the local wooded area. As I was coming out of the forest into a meadow, I saw flames along the right side of the pathway. On the street about 50 feet away I saw two people watching the flames. There was one man on his cellphone and I called out, "Did you call 911? Did you call the fire department?"

"Yes, they are on their way," he replied as he finished telling the person on the phone the location.

Since I was closest to the fire, I assessed the situation quickly and I decided to do what I could to get it out. The flames were spreading in different directions and I knew that I could at least get some of the flames down. "Be careful," the man on the street called out to me. I guess I decided to jump in right away. "It's okay, I am just going to remove some dry plants so that the fire doesn't spread," I called back.

When I got closer to the flames I said with respect, "It’s okay, dear Fire, you can go out now." I was a bit nervous because the flames on the other side of the field were moving faster than the ones closest to me. When the flames in front of me lower I stomped them down. At one point, the flames were moving faster than I expected and flared up beside me. I stepped back and said with respect, "Thank you Fire." Once the flames lowered again, I stomped them down.

When I looked up for the flames on the other side of the area they lower too. I immediately crossed the burnt field with 8 or 9 steps and stomped on the remaining flames. The fire along the cement pathway went out on its own. Wherever I saw smoke I stomped on it in case the flames restarted. Once I got back to the side of the cement pathway, I looked back at the street and saw a fire truck pulling into the park. The truck drove down the pathway and pulled up beside me. One firefighter jumped out and said, "Are you looking for a job?"

I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny but I replied, "No." I watched how the other fire fighters quickly stomped down the remaining area to disperse any loose ashes. I realized that they did not want to speak to me, so I walked away.

I love those woods and I had to do what I could to put out the fire. It's not the first time I saw flames in the woods and it’s not the first time I put out a small fire. However, it was the first time that I ever spoke directly to the fire and said thank you.

I was lucky that I did not get burned because the flames did rise higher than I expected. However, I did trust that the conditions were safe. I knew that there were low wind levels and most of the dried bushes were low to the ground. So once again, "Thank you Fire. I respect you and I appreciate you."

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