I promise it appeared to be just on the other side of those trees in the distance of the pasture!!
Needless to say 911 dispatch wasn't to keen on me bothering them with something so trivial! They informed me that the person doing the burning had notified them earlier in the day that they would be burning. Which is all they are required to do, except for earlier in the day it wasn't windy out and now it was! But all was well as it turns out this burning field was probably 1/2 a mile away LOL!!! It's crazy how it can appear so close!
So tonight as I was driving home I see that unmistakable glow, that roaring fire in the distance. It always catches me off guard! I mean what if this was actually a "real" fire and it was burning someones house down! Or maybe their barn like we had in 2007! You are basically expected to ignore these fires and go on about your business! After I arrived home the Hubby was outside and looks off into the distance and says "Oop field burn", I looked and sure enough that glowing orange lighting up the distance! So for tonight I just enjoyed the view and hoped someone's house wasn't on fire!
I lightened this one so you could see the smoke better..
About 5 or so years ago, we had a spring and summer so dry that fires like that cropped up spontaneously all over the place. Mr. Fry and I were coming home from a Texas Rangers baseball game and as we drove up I-35, in every direction around us, we could see them glowing in the distance. It was so surreal, like photos from wars, when the fighting was all around and closing in.
ReplyDeleteI'da called 911 too! I've helped fight my fair share of field / grass fires. One recently was here in the city - house with a huge 1/2 acre front yard. Was so dry here that grass was dust. Some idiot tossed a hot cigarette out the window and ignited it.
ReplyDeleteI would have done the same thing,as one just never knows what is going on and they do spread fast. I am so afraid of fire anyway.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos however.
Have a great weekend.
The neighbor was burning last night and as I drove hom, I thought for sure ours was too! It is a beautiful sight!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful sight, but if not a controlled burn; there isn't anything as scary as fire. Makes for good pictures, and green pastures!
ReplyDeleteHaha, this reminds me of soooo many stories from growing up. Our neighbors across the road would call the volunteer fire dept. EVERY time we burned trash. It got so ridiculous that we started calling THEM before we burned. Well, a few months ago my brother dumped some ashes from the wood burning stove down in the ditch. He thought they had cooled enough and went back inside. Ten minutes later here come the fire trucks! Sure enough, the ashes had caught the entire ditch on fire and the whole thing was up in flames, LOL! Of course, you can guess which neighbors called that one in. :P
ReplyDeleteBurning is so good for the land, but yes, totally unexpected if you're not doing the burning! Here in Southern California, we get our more-than-fair share of unplanned wildfires. In fact, in 2008, one burned the ranch where we board our horses. Well, it didn't actually burn any structures, but we had to evacuate and the pastures were all burned. This fire roared through the state park that's on our ranch's backside, and we drove up there to watch it. Let me tell you, it was something I'll never forget. The fire was so huge we could hear and feel it from almost a mile away! Sadly, that fire was very destructive and burned a BUNCH of homes, but the pastures sure looked good that following spring! Just be grateful that your's are planned, and controlled fires!
ReplyDeleteField burns are not done in SD, so when I first started coming to western CO and noticed all of the burned ditches and fields, I commented to MH that they sure had a lot of fires around this area. He laughed at me, of course. Everyone burns their irrigation ditches and fields around here, us included now-LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to me to drive past a pasture that is being burned and no one is out there watching it.
I'd have called 911, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the concept of a field burn anyway? What's the purpose?
Around here in the desert southwest, fire is taken seriously and rarely ever started on purpose. We're lucky to have grass at all. We'd never want to burn it down.
~Lisa
I would have called 911, too! It would freak me out to see pasture burning so close to my place. I guess they are good for the pastures though! I know that when there are fires in the summe, next to the freeway (from people throwing cigarettes out their car window, grr!) the grass that grows back in the burnt spot is always super green and lush! :)
ReplyDeleteWe have the same "open burn" regulations out here - and I do the same, enjoy the view and hope its not a barn. Good pictures BTW!
ReplyDeleteYep, I remember my first sightings of wheatfield burns back in '08 Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThen there was the pasture burn of March '09... that got out of control. Good thing I was in AZ visiting mom, because I woulda whacked hubby over the head. There's an old post on my blog with pics, showing how close to the house it got, and how he damaged the chicken coop, which we called the "cat house" for obvious reasons. Poor lil Barack lost his eyelashes and whiskers trying to get out of the coop!!!
So needless to say, as he begins planning his spring '10 burn, I'm less than thrilled!!!!!!! Ah well, I'll just have to have my camera ready, along with a huge water sprayer. LOL
And just for the record, hubby has done pasture burns many times, safely. Sometimes there's no accounting for wind changes.