Racinbob 11,045 #1 Posted November 5, 2020 The road we live on is only about a half mile long and we live about midway on it. There are only two houses north of us and the road is only accessible from the south. We haven't met the folks in those two houses yet. Last night about 7:00 a guy came knocking on our door. My wife refused to answer the door because he looked, in her words, intimidating. I opened the door and it turns out he was one of the neighbors to the north. He just casually said they were burning off a field and it likely will spread to our property and left. Let's see here. It's been bone dry. It's dark. Leave are falling. It's quite windy. WTF!!!!! I made the 900' walk to the north property line. The fire was clearly out of control. Fortunately the wind was out of the south but it was still creeping towards a 30-40' tall grove of pine trees on our north property line. If the wind would have been from the north it would have been on our house in no time. I had no phone service because we need to be wi-fi connected to get service at the house. Then I heard music to my ears. Firetrucks! There were 8 or 10 of them from Knox, Hebron and North Judson. Several of them came across our property in order to access the fire. I even had to seek shelter in the pine grove because I wasn't sure they'd see me. They got it under control pretty quickly but didn't leave until just after midnight. I went back about 1:00 on a tractor and it looked like they were still putting out hotspots. They were also in the woods across the road to the west so it must have jumped the road. I'm sure the firetrucks caused some damage because where they entered our property there isn't enough room and they would have had to force the issue but that certainly isn't a concern to us. On the plus side, we met a neighbor. On the negative side, he's an idiot. My wife took these from just outside the house. I'm sure she zoomed in. The fire was about 1000' from the house. 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lane Ranger 10,946 #2 Posted November 5, 2020 (edited) Very glad you and your wife and home our safe Bob! Very good to see the fire departments were able to get there and get control of the fire! Edited November 5, 2020 by Lane Ranger 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pullstart 62,799 #3 Posted November 5, 2020 Firemen and firewomen are heros. Brush fire, easy stuff most times. Burning house loosing it’s foundation to hold itself upright? They still go in to look for a cat. Glad y’all are ok Bob, sorry for your neighbor’s lack of a brain! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCW 1,292 #4 Posted November 5, 2020 Some people (neighbors) are completely unburdened by the thought process. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racinbob 11,045 #5 Posted November 5, 2020 2 hours ago, Lane Ranger said: Very glad you and your wife and home our safe Bob! Very good to see the fire departments were able to get there and get control of the fire! Thanks Lane. We are located kinda in the middle of the three small towns. It was a really good feeling to see the three departments come with so much equipment and all within minutes of each other. A tanker made two runs to reload. Fire hydrants around here are standpipes dropped down in drainage ditchs. 2 hours ago, pullstart said: Firemen and firewomen are heros. Brush fire, easy stuff most times. Burning house loosing it’s foundation to hold itself upright? They still go in to look for a cat. Glad y’all are ok Bob, sorry for your neighbor’s lack of a brain! I couldn't agree more Kevin. This one would come under the easy category but if the wind would have ben from the north it would have covered the 900' to our house in minutes. There's a lot of fuel along the way. It was blowing towards the boneheads house but there was a lot of yard in between. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tractorhead 9,064 #6 Posted November 5, 2020 Good to hear nothing more was happen. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 41,037 #7 Posted November 5, 2020 And here I thought all the idiots were in my neighborhood! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racinbob 11,045 #8 Posted November 5, 2020 I checked out the crime scene after I got back from Valparaiso today. The fire got about 300 sq ft of our woods but no lasting harm done. The truck left quite a few deep tracks and squeezed through some paths that my tractor barely fits through but again, no lasting damage. Two Knox firefighters were walking it checking for hot spots. I talked to them a bit and they had the nerve to apologize for the damage. I don't think I need to tell you how I responded to that. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 55,092 #9 Posted November 6, 2020 During my time as a volunteer fireman I always dreaded autumn because of the idiots that would gather all of their leaves into a big pile in the most inaccessible part of their property and then light them on fire as the sun sets and you can't see where you are going! On one occasion I drove over a septic system while accessing an intentionally set brush fire. The idiot threatened to file a lawsuit against the Fire Company and me personally. I responded by requesting the State Fire Marshal do an arson investigation. Never did hear from him again. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
formariz 11,987 #10 Posted November 6, 2020 11 hours ago, Racinbob said: On the plus side, we met a neighbor. On the negative side, he's an idiot. He definitely must have been on the back of line when God was dispensing intelligence. Criminal charges and a real hefty fine sometimes would wake up mentally challenged people like that otherwise they just think its OK. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites