It’s the Windy Season in Central Florida .. and that means we have to be extra careful when it comes to fire.   It seems that every year – for the past 5 years or so – a major forest fire has hit our area.  The majority of the fires are started by man – whether intentionally or  through carelessness.

The son and I were driving home from USF yesterday.  We decided to to do some shopping at the local Mall before heading home – so we took the highway a bit further than we normally do.  Right before our exit … out of the corner of my eye … I spotted a grass fire along the road.  The wind was kicking up the flames and the fire was headed quickly towards homes on the other side of the fence.  We would never have spotted it if we weren’t slowing down to take the exit.

I was pissed to say the least – there’s only one way that fire started.  Someone threw a cigarette out their window and it ignited the dry grass.  The wind took care of the rest.  If we had not spotted the fire it may have spread quickly to the houses.  We dialed up 911 – spoke with the Fire Department – then continued on to the Mall.

The fire was close to the ground – when the fire Department arrived they couldn’t spot it right away and had to call me to find out exactly where we had seen it.  I gave them directions and heard him say “Oh .. there it is … that little spot over there”.  Obviously they didn’t see it as that big a deal .. must have taken them all of 3 seconds to extinguish.  But the way I see it – disaster was adverted.  We did the right thing by making the call.

My son knew I was angry about the situation.  When I first came off the phone with the fire department he said “I know why you’re mad”.  At that point I hadn’t realized I was angry – so it was kinda cool to see he spotted it.  I replied – “Yep – if that person hadn’t thrown their cigarette out the window – the fire would never have started”.

People are so careless!  And selfish!  They don’t think about the consequences of their actions.  They don’t really care about anything that doesn’t affect their own lives.   I too have been guilty of this act … of not paying attention to the things going on in the world around me.  Perhaps it’s time we all took a step back and did something GOOD for the world?