3 April 2010 neighbor, neighbor burning bryte

3 April 2010 neighbor, neighbor burning bryte


The land I thought had been bought by the previous owners was not. Instead, that parcel was purchased by a member of the Broyles family. He appears to be no more than high school senior age. He may be somewhat older in years. He has not acquired any wisdom with his years. Given his current behavior, he may never.

I met him at about 0100 this morning. After dark, we heard them arrive and begin running around in circles, revving their engines.

We went to bed about midnight last night. At 0100 I noticed the apparent reflection of flames and looked out the window. They had a huge bonfire burning and the rising wind was blowing sparks high and in all directions.

I walked up the road to see how big the fire actually was. The group actually invited me in for hot dogs and asked if they were being too noisy. I declined any hot dogs.

Noise was not my concern. They were drinking, cooking hotdogs and adding wood to the fire. The new owner told me how young people needed a place to hang out so he had bought this land. I listened more than I talked but tried to impress upon him the fire risk to surrounding homes and property. That had little effect. They had no source of water to extinguish their fire, no fire extinguisher, but apparently lots of gasoline to pour on the fire.

They were still adding fuel when I had said all that they might have listened to. Rather than become just an adult annoyance, I came back home and tried to get some sleep. At 0200 they decided to leave. That entailed each vehicle making several circles at full throttle. Their lights and their noise woke me up in time to watch them depart.

Darryl was invited to their gathering but declined, wisely, when they mentioned that some of them were underage. When I talked with him this morning he said that someone had put more wood on the still smoldering fire and then left. He also said that they were throwing gasoline onto the fire directly from their gas cans. It is not hard to imagine a dropped can spilling a gallon or more of gasoline into a fire, catching the field on fire. It is not at all hard to imagine them splashing someone with gasoline, resulting in serious burns.

They have quite a bit of wood piled up next to their fire, one assumes for tonight. I asked Darryl to watch their fire and to let me know if it flares up. This is going to require some action. How do we impress upon teen agers and twenty year olds that we will notify public safety offices about fires left untended or allowed to grow too big? And how do we make them aware that they have to take responsibility in this matter? This is going to be a problem, hopefully one which we can resolve in a friendly manner; but one that must be resolved quickly.

Tonight is Saturday night. Noise may become a bigger concern tonight.