The Holiday Farm Fire
Get Out! Now! A Firefighter’s Account of the Holiday Farm Fire of 2020
Part 9/12
I knew that God could handle my anger, so I let Him have it.
So many homes and businesses were completely devastated. The only thing left to do was clean up the ashes, cement, and rebar. Hopefully people could find a few precious things that didn’t burn as they picked through all the ash. When you’ve lost nearly everything, even a dish or a ring would mean so much.
There were some homes that were still standing, but the fire was burning above them in the canopy of the trees. That fire would likely come down on them as the trees continued burning, or it could creep up on them from the ground through the blackberry bushes. Those were the houses we focused on defending.
Some new teachers at the school had just moved into an A-frame home with a metal roof. We figured it stood a good chance of surviving this, but I felt bad because there wasn’t really a great deal we could do to defend it. I figured it was easier for the task force to make fair decisions than me.
Whenever I knew the owners of a property, I had such an emotional reaction to defend it. I knew that wasn’t fair to the people I didn’t know. Also, I had become a recruit less than two years ago. These guys on the task force had probably served over twenty years, so they were in charge.
I helped them put water on houses and the surrounding grass and bushes where we thought we could make a difference.
I explained to Schwinn, “Firefighting is pretty easy. You just have to put the wet stuff on the hot stuff.”
He chuckled just a bit at that and repeated, “Yeah, it’s so easy. You just put the wet stuff on the hot stuff.”
I could tell he needed a little humor because I kept seeing his eyes dart towards the closest trees and bushes on fire.
He often said in a soft voice, “I don’t like this. I… I really, really don’t like this!”
And yet, he refused to leave me whenever I offered to take him back to the track. Some folks had left a pool full of water which we started pumping. We ran sprinklers all around their house.
I was so thankful to see that the school had made it through the night, except for the football stands. We still needed to defend the school, but I had hope now that we would be able to save it.
With the fire hydrants at the school, we were able to restock our water supply as needed; however, soon we were running low on gas, which we needed to keep running the pumps and the tankers. There was only one source of fuel that I knew of, and that was the bus barn. As we drove to the bus barn, I enjoyed the beautiful sight of the school. Its walls were white, but they looked orange in this light, and the school looked out of focus in the thick smoke.
We drove up the hill to the bus barn, praying that it wasn’t one of the many explosions we heard last night. Thank God, it was in good shape. The only trouble was that I had no way to unlock it because my school keys were with Katie. I probably could have opened the gate with the key if I’d had it on me. The superintendent of the school had told me the night before that I had permission to do whatever I needed to do to defend this town, so I figured that included breaking another gate.
I told some of the guys from the task force, “We’re going to have to break in.”
Now that embers weren’t swirling through the air all around us and lives weren’t on the line, I was reluctant to do any more damage than I’d already done.
I was about to head back to 91 when one of them said, “We’ve got some cutters. We can just cut off the chain.”
I laughed just a bit and nodded thankfully, “Good, that’s so much better than what I had planned.”
All night, I had been so impressed by the guys that made up this task force. They were the veteran firefighters who had responded from nearby areas to help our community out when we needed it. They always seemed to know exactly what to do and kept a sense of calm throughout it all.
After opening the gate, I had hoped we could get access to the gas, but it turned out it was inside a locked building.
Again, I took the back side of my ax to the door handle and broke it off so I could get to the lock. That caused much less damage than prying the door open. This way we only needed to replace the handle.
The other firefighters got to work, hotwiring the pump so that we could get it started. It was pumping slowly, but at least we were getting gas. Eventually, we had enough gas to get back to work. We worked together for hours, doing everything we could for the houses that we could still save. We cut through trees to clear blocked roads.
I noticed that the sky was just a little lighter than the deep reddish orange it had been just a little while ago. The mountains had shone like the sun last night, casting their eerie light up and out to reflect on the smoke surrounding them. They were invisible now, cloaked by a heavy smoke. It seemed we had made it another day. Schwinn and I decided to take a bathroom break and headed back for the track.
As I was entering the field, I saw the lady with kids walking off towards the school. I was guessing she went to get her car, but I was doubtful that it would move.
I headed for the restroom, and on the way, I heard Hitch’s unmistakable voice, “What’s a guy gotta do to get some coffee around here?”
I looked around and found him sitting on the high jump mats. I smiled and laughed. I sort of liked this guy.
I yelled back, “I’ll get right on that for you, sir.”
When I came out of the restroom, I called towards the high jump mats, “I didn’t find any in there. Why don’t you help me look for it in concessions?”
He slowly stood up, stretched, and walked over to me. It seemed like he had gotten a few solid hours of sleep. I felt a little jealous. We looked around in the track building and finally found all the parts for the coffee machine. We found filters, creamer, cups, and stir sticks, but I couldn’t find any coffee. For both of us, the disappointment was strong.
My brain was so tired and really needed some energy right now. I wasn’t even thinking about how there was no electricity. If I had, I’d realized that any sort of coffee we made would just be cold and weak.
There was just something that seemed so comforting about a hot cup of coffee right now and my heart cried out for that comfort. Not being able to even have a cup of coffee this morning felt like it could be the thing that would make me finally have the break down I’d been so close to all morning, but I wouldn’t let myself break down over coffee. I sighed out loud as I looked for something else to drink.
I grabbed an old Gatorade from last year’s season and threw it to Hitch, “This will have to do.”
He looked so disappointed. I totally understood, but to demonstrate how to buck up and deal with it, I grabbed one, opened it, and took a long swig of the stuff. The Gatorade was wet, which met my basic needs. I didn’t know how the track committee would feel about me raiding their concession stand but all this stuff was probably going to expire before next track season anyway. Also, we had saved the track building last night which had to be worth more than whatever was in the concessions stand, right? I felt like it was fair enough, so I started handing out drinks to people. I came back around with candy bars and granola bars. Hitch had gone back to the high jump mats.
As I walked by, I pretended to be his waiter, “Your breakfast is served, sir.”
I threw him a Reese’s.
He smiled widely, and fired back sarcastically, “Thanks, but I ordered eggs and bacon! Oh, and don’t forget the coffee this time!”
After breakfast, I saw some of the other locals leave to check on their house and grab food, drinks, and lawn chairs. Schwinn was apparently a picky eater and wouldn’t take any of the candy.
I asked one of the folks I knew if they could get him something from their house. They named off some of the food they had at home, and he finally decided on a banana and a cheese stick. A little later, Hitch came up and shook my hand firmly.
He said, “Thanks for the ride. It was a little bumpy. And there was no leg room in that thing, but I’ll still give you like… three stars I guess.”
I laughed out loud, then replied, “That’ll be my highest rating yet.”
He looked at his feet for a moment, then smiled at me, “I’m gonna get goin’. Thanks for everything.”
I laughed a little and replied genuinely, “Alright man, be safe out there.”
Frank stood next to him and offered a hand to me as well.
I took it and said, “You too. No more jumping in the river, okay? It’s getting too cold for a swim.”
Frank smiled and nodded.
As they walked away, Hitch added, “Don’t worry, he’s not planning on it.”
As I watched them leave, I considered how oddly cold it was this morning. I was guessing it was because of the thick cloud of smoke blocking the sun. I remembered the eclipse several years ago; and how, within minutes of the moon covering the sun, you could notice the temperature drop. None of the sun’s heat could get through the thick cloud of smoke, so we just had the heat coming off the scorched earth at this point.
I decided it was time to get home and let the rest of the team keep defending Blue River. They seemed to have it under control, and I was anxious to know if I still had a home. Not to mention making sure Katie and Elizabeth and everyone in my church, fire crew, and town were safe.
I told some of the members of the task force and the police officers that I’d worked with over the night that I was going to try to make it back upriver to my house. They all agreed that I should go, which felt good, because I sort of felt like I was abandoning them. Logically, I knew that they could handle it, and that I wasn’t really needed here anymore, but I still felt bad leaving when there was more work to be done. I did feel a growing desire to get back to my family. Not knowing how they were was driving me crazy; knowing that they didn’t know if I was okay was really starting to eat me up inside.
One of the task force guys shook my hand and said, “It was good working with you. Thanks for everything.”
I nodded my head and said sincerely, “Same. It was an honor to work with you.”
I looked around at the others that were with us and added, “All of you.”
Another guy smiled and added, “Don’t worry about us, just get home to your family.”
I nodded and said, “Thank you for coming out and helping us. You guys really held it together last night… and I really needed that.”
I shook each of their hands, waved, and walked away. I figured I’d never see those guys again.
I got back in 91, turned to Schwinn in my passenger’s seat and said, “Well buddy, thanks for being my partner last night. It’s time for me to head home.”
I expected him to nod and reply, “Alright, I’ll see you later,” but he surprised me.
Schwinn turned his head at an angle, like a dog that sees you opening the door to leave, then bit his lip and nodded, “Okay, I uh… “
He swallowed, then continued, “I want to go with you.”
I chuckled a little. I guess I should have seen it coming. “Are you sure? I don’t really know what to expect when I get out there on the highway again. Last time I was out there it was really bad!”
He nodded his head up and down, sure of his decision, “Yeah… yeah I want to go with you.”
I shook my head as I agreed, “Alright, you and me again, heading outta here together.”
As I drove out of the track parking lot, I saw the singed car limping back to the track. I was amazed that thing could still drive!
I looked at Schwinn with raised eyebrows, “I wonder how far she’ll get.”
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know.” Shaking his head and laughing, he repeated, “I don’t know.”
