Today was the first day I've had my Maverick out since last Nov. We've been so busy I just did'nt have the time to get it out of the shed it's in and run it. Today it came out in a hurry. It was no pleasure ride either. It's brush fire season here in northeast Pa and one ignited just north west of where we live. When the fire alarms went off I went out back and could see the smoke up on the ridge. My neighbor has a scanner so we listened in to get an idea of where the fire was and where it was heading. Bad news. The winds were pushing the flames right toward us. The winds kept shifting out of the west to the south, and every time they went south it pushed the fire closer to us. When the fire jumped the one ridge and started down into the valley to the west of us we knew it was time to get the Maverick out of the shed. We got the car out and about 15 minutes later the local fire fighters parked thier trucks right next to the shed the car had been in. They were waiting for instructions to head the fire off if it came any closer. About one hour after the fire was called in air support arrived and with thier help the fire was knocked down. The last I heard the fire had just skirted by a home up on the ridge and burned 75 to 80 acres within walking distance of our garage. I still don't know what sparked the fire, but my hats go off to all the hard working unpaid volunteer firefighters who risk life and limb to keep us and our homes safe. You guys ROCK!
That's scary stuff and we always pray for the folks in CA when the fires hit out there. We watched the break-out in SC last week down near Myrtle Beach as we have a place just south of the area affected - not a pleasant sight, especially when we are so far away.
Probably some idiot throwing a lit cigarette butt out their car window. For some reason smokers think the world is an ash tray.
Actually, the fire was started by, and I quote from one of the firefighters, "Some idiot was burning trash behind the Bowmanstown Fire Co." Bowmanstown is two miles away from where we live. The entire area here was under a Red Flag Alert, which means dry vegatation and high winds made conditions ripe for the possibility of brush fires. Yet some A**HOLE felt the need to light up thier burn barrel which resulted in a two mile swath of forest getting burned to a crisp. The fire came within 150 yards of burning down a house that belongs to the brother of one of our neighbors. Because the fire was so unpredictable, we were waiting for evacuation orders to come in, but the fire stayed just north of us and was put out before any structures were lost. Did my car start right up? Hell no. The battery is 9 years old in that car, so we had to jump start it. One of these days I've got to replace that battery.
Look at the bright side Jean, it missed you thankfully and you shouldn't have to worry about snakes and vermin this year! They either got fried or moved out!
Jean, I didn't think there was anything growing on the hills around Palmerton! My wife used to live in town and her dad worked for NJ Zinc as a chemist. Glad to hear everything's ok!
just thankful you and your maverick are ok. and just think, now that thats all burned back, it can grow back in thicker next time.
I'm 35 miles north of Jean & Dale and early Saturday afternoon I walked past my kitchen window and I saw that everything was white from smoke. I ran outside and grabbed the garden hose and spent the next hour pouring water on the back of the garage while everything across the road behind my house burned. Thank God that road was between the fire and my property. I just kept everything wet while the fire fighters took care of the brush fire. Their follow up was terrific too. They've been back at least 6 times since then just to check on the area.
I saw the news overage of the fire up your way on channel 16 news. That fire was twice as bad as the one that took place here. I don't know exactly where you live Bob, but I was wondering if the fire was affecting you. I had no idea just how close it was to you. Absolutely frightening. Glad to hear you made it through that scare without any damage. I'm sure I heard on the news what caused the fire, but I don't remember anymore. Was it intentional set?
The fire behind my house was completely separate and quite small compared to the "Big" one that you saw on the news. That one covered a large amount of acres on Penopscot Mountain heading south out of Wilkes-Barre up towards Mountaintop. It almost got to the transmission towers of Channel 16. It burned right down to the edge of the pavement of the northbound lane of Route 309. I haven't heard what started either fires but there are train tracks that run behind my house and the locomotives have caused fires in the past.
