[g'nad]

well... it's officially fire season here...

there's a firebug round these parts that just loves to drive down the back roads settin fires every spring...

yesterday that nutjob set about 6 fires to the north of us... closest one was about a mile away... fire crews were out there all day... you could see the glows prominantly from our house last nite... looks pretty clear now...

gonna go help the new neighbors by brush hawgin' a perimeter around their house... get some other werk done too...

the hoses are staged, as are buckets, shovels and rakes...

if'n I see the S.O.B. lightin' a fire, they won't need tuh bother with a trial...

[Sam Cree]

I like playing with fire, as I guess most of us do, but I just can't understand how someone can enjoy wanton destruction, or threatening the lives of others.

The desire for power ain't that strong in me.

Would it be a good idea to have a 4x4 ready too?

[Wneighbor]

I'll be keepin' ya'll and the place in prayer g'nad. Some folks back home usedta like to burn their fields. I was blessed that the guy who owned the ranch surrounding my little 3/4 acres didn't do that... but, many a night we watched the fires light the sky further away. Our local VFD's were some worn out guys *way* too many times from saving people's homes when those fires got out of hand.

My nearing 100 year old frame house woulda gone up like a tinderbox. Part of that watching the night sky was sometimes looking for airborne cornshucks or just sparks. I could've done nothing. God looked after me well.

[300winmag]

if'n I see the S.O.B. lightin' a fire, they won't need tuh bother with a trial...

Had something similar happen one April, when we went to Grayling for some early artillery work. We were almost ready to fire when a radio call came in telling us to stand down, and get ready for fire fighting duty.

We pulled all our guns and other vehicles into a line alongside the road, so we could have a cleared area in the field for the dozen Hueys that showed up to take everybody away. Everbody except me and two other guys, who were left behind to guard the equipment, and monitor the radio. They just never told us what frequency to monitor.

So we spent two days with a case of Cs, a water buffalo, no sleeping gear, and no cold weather gear. We were supposed to fire only until dark, head back to camp, sleep in the barracks, and clean the guns the next day. Fortunately, the captain left his field jacket in his jeep when he left, so I gave myself a quickie promotion rather than freeze.

We had no idea what was going on until late Sunday, when some helos brought back enough guys to drive the vehicles back. It turns out our FDC guys were on one Huey being flown to a hotspot when they spotted a guy on a dirtbike lighting fires. The firebug tried to escape, but a helicopter is faster than a dirtbike, especially when flown by a crazy (I hated my flights with those guys) ex-Vietnam pilot. He knocked the guy off the bike with his rotorwash, then landed next to him. Everybody jumped out, and spent ten minutes convincing the guy to turn himself in. After seeing the error of his ways, they tossed ("helped") him and his bike into the helicopter, and flew to the nearest state police post. They dropped off his bike in the parking lot from about 50 feet, but landed briefly to "help him off", and make sure the cops knew that he was there to turn himself in for arson. Then my guys were off again for more chopping down trees, and burying burning stuff.

And I missed all the fun while listening for a radio call that would never come, and freezing my ass off after dark.

[HairOfTheDog]

there's a firebug round these parts

What a particularly vile thing to do.

I hope they catch him.... Hopefully he's the bragging kind and someone will call him in..