When a Tree Falls: Fire

My brother-in-law, Terry, and I like a fire.  Any excuse for a fire will do.  Campfires.  Burning weeds.  Creating a warm place during a winter excursion.  Roasting marshmallows.

Fire is an important tool, when used properly.

Terry once set his back lawn and wooden fence on fire while trying to burn some ants infesting his yard.  His neighbors on the other side of the fence were having a barbeque at the time.  They were somewhat baffled and more than a bit concerned when the flames climbed Terry’s fence and began waving at them from the top.

Once, while burning an assortment of junk at my cabin, I created a wintertime fire so big, my face turned pink as if sunburned.  At one point, while feeding some old cabinets into the fire and extreme heat, I actually thought the shirt I had stripped down to, was emitting puffs of smoke and seriously considering bursting into flame.

Two weeks back, my mountain neighbor called to tell me that the wind had toppled a dead-standing tree and laid it across the private road to my cabin.  I called my brother-in-law on Thursday and asked if he wanted to grab his chainsaw this weekend and help me clear the road. “This is going to require a fire,” I told him.

“I’m in,” he said.

Yesterday, we grabbed our chainsaws and drove to my cabin.  As you can see in the first photograph posted below, only the top twenty or so fee of the tree fell across the road.  Terry and I fired-up our saws and chunked up a load of firewood for my cabin.  After I stacked the wood in my cabin, we loaded some small pieces in the truck for Terry.

And, yes, we started a big fire to burn the mess of small branches.

--Mitchell Hegman