FIRE!!

We have learned a very important lesson in our family...gas cans and lighters DO NOT make a good combination. I know, you are thinking, well duh!!! So let me tell you what happened.

We bought one of those neat fire pits from Cabela's that you burn your fire wood in. So one Sunday night we had decided to have tinfoil dinners and cook them over the fire. I was inside cutting up the veggies for our dinner and Dusty had gone out to start the fire. Well, we started a fire...a BIG one. Dusty had poured gasoline on the fire pit and had then lit the wood with a lighter to start it. He though it had not lit and started to pour more gasoline on the wood. What he couldn't see was that the fire had already begun and before he knew it the gas can and gasoline inside of it caught on fire. I had no idea until I casually looked out the back window and saw flames as high as the power lines shooting everywhere. Dusty was standing there with the hose trying to contain it. With the wind, the flames were getting near Emma, so I ran outside and grabbed Emma from off the trampoline where she was frozen.

I yelled for Lex and Jake to grab the hose from the front and Dusty and I sat there and tried to get the flames to die down. Since the wind was blowing so much, every time we thought we were getting it to go out, the wind would make it pick up again. Dusty was trying to keep the flames from the garage so that we didn't have a bonfire start and I was trying to keep the flames from the grass. I finally called the fire department and we continued to stand there feeling like idiots. While we were waiting for them to arrive, Dusty got some dirt from the garden and smothered the flames (why didn't we think of that sooner??).

When the fire department finally arrived the chief was furious with Dusty. I was mortified about the entire situation and the fact that my husband had actually pulled off something like this. In the end, we learned a very good lesson; our gas can is now only used for the lawn mower, we have had extensive conversations with our children about what to do in case of fire and we now make brownies for the volunteer fire department regularly.

Our situation could have been a whole lot worse. Fire is nothing to joke around with. Follow the safety rules that have been set in place for us all. I highly recommend taking a tour of your local fire department as they will educate you and can show you pictures of exactly what happens when you play with or are careless with materials that can start fires.

And now a few pictures of our eventful Sunday night...

This is the gas can smothered with dirt. Notice the black grass on the right.