The Last Bonfire

A while back I mentioned I'd tell a story about David's first and only burn lesson from my fireman father. The photo doesn't match the story but is evidence of weed burn gone slightly awry. The scorched tree stands nearly 20 years later.

060209: On February 14th, 2002, we weren't officially opened yet, but had two customers staying with us. The first was an longtime customer who arrived early for his seasonal fishing at the lake. And the second was a husband who surprised his wife for her birthday (I think), by blindfolding her, packing up and bringing her to the Park.

That night, after creating a massive pile on the beach of leaves, tree cuttings, etc., that stood over 6 ft high and a diameter of about 20 ft, my dad decided to show hubby how to burn this pile the "fireman" way. Now I could go into alot of details here, but let me just summarize this and explain that a fireman doesn't flick a bic, light the pile and watch it burn. NOooooo. That wouldn't be any fun and besides it would take too long!

If I remember right, I believe the use of an accelerant, a high powered blower, and two tractors (you need a back-up) were required equipment. At one point the flames, fanned by my now maniacal hubby were so high, so bright, it lit up the BACK of the Park. Oh...did I mention it was nighttime? Despite the scream of the high powered blower and the roar of the inferno fire, I swear I could hear hubby's inner Mr. Hyde coming out: "BwaHaHaHaHa! Burn, baby, burn!!!"

Those customers never came in early again. We had burnt faces the morning after. And we haven't burned debris since. The fires in the area in the summer of 2002 completely changed the burn policy making it much more restrictive- tiny piles, burn during the day only and you had to have a water hose on hand, etc.

That's not any fun! For pete's sake, what self-respecting fireman would use a hose!?