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| As one who had the majority of homes burn around him, it’s in my DNA to fight. Battling fire is the closest thing I’ve done that gives me a similar feeling I had when I was in the Marine Corps.
The house we saved was my employer’s, essentially employee housing. There was also the contents. We lost a shop, barn, trailers, vehicles, etc. we were very fortunate. A small crew from the local volunteer department was instrumental. If it wasn’t for my tractors and their foam it wouldn’t have gone well.
I can’t fathom just standing there making no effort and letting it burn. We did that when the barn caught fire. We initially made some effort, but when the flames were shooting out the eaves like a blow torch extend 15 feet, I realized we hadn’t the resources to make a dent in that. The firefighters looked more downcast than I was.
It didn’t bother me living in the middle of a burn scar. It bothered my granddaughter. It’s not forever. It gets cleaned up. From my point of view, the overgrown terrain here looked significantly better after the fire even when it was all black. I can’t begin to tell you the quality of grass that grew back.
Yes, there were months of clean up and cutting burned and dangerous trees. We lived a month with no power or running water. FEMA tried to kick us out. Be cautious dealing with them. I will never have anything to do with them again.
There were moments when I was resigned to losing everything. It wasn’t panic or devastation. I lost a fair amount. My coworker lost everything. We both agree there is something liberating about the experience. It is just stuff. Yes, it’s sad. When I’m gone it will be likely cast to the wind anyway. All the people and animals made it. That mattered more.
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Cost of airplane water
