You sometimes get more than you bargained for: Last Sunday night, my 25 year old son had to go pee at 3AM, which is odd since he never has to get up. Never. He noticed an orance glow...

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Last Sunday night, my 25 year old son had to go pee at 3AM, which is odd since he never has to get up. Never. He noticed an orance glow through the windows and saw a fire coming up the driveway, heading straight for 61 big bales of hay, about 75% of my winter's supply. A cold front had just came through, the wind was blowing 25-30 mph and the temp was 8F. He and I dressed and finally got the fire beat out within 5 feet of the hay. Dressed in rubber boots, jeans, T shirt and a light jacket, I never had time to think about getting cold. Once hay starts burning, there isn't enough water in the world to put it out and had this caught fire, it would have ignited a wooden shed with 2 motorcycles inside and probably also ignited the garage with a minivan, Studebaker Hawk and my touring bike.

After we got that portion of the fire out, the boy noticed a car at the end of the driveway still burning. Since the fire had fence posts burning and was still spreading elsewhere, I figured I'd grab the camera to document the scene should it end up being an insurance claim. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the completely burned out SUV and saw the charred remnants of a corpse. When I say remants, that's exactly what I mean. The fire was so hot it melted the aluminum wheels into molten puddles and had reduced the body to mostly bones and very little else. I took a few shots of the SUV for the local paper.

Seeing the body didn't really bother me until later that day I found the 22 year old kid driving had graduated with my younger son. The first thing I though of was that it could have been my kid and how terrible his parents felt. Rather unsettling to say the least. From the tracks, he never braked and likely fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree. I just hope he never knew what happened. Considering how quickly the fire was spreading, had my boy gotten up maybe 5 minutes later, the hay and buildings would have been in flames. Apparently someone was looking out for me, but unfortunately not for the poor kid.

Nikon 5100, 1/3 sec, f3.5 ISO 3200

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Wow! And Scary!!!
Pat

northsidejoe Loc: pittsburgh

bikinkawboy wrote:

Last Sunday night, my 25 year old son had to go pee at 3AM, which is odd since he never has to get up. Never. He noticed an orance glow through the windows and saw a fire coming up the driveway, heading straight for 61 big bales of hay, about 75% of my winter's supply. A cold front had just came through, the wind was blowing 25-30 mph and the temp was 8F. He and I dressed and finally got the fire beat out within 5 feet of the hay. Dressed in rubber boots, jeans, T shirt and a light jacket, I never had time to think about getting cold. Once hay starts burning, there isn't enough water in the world to put it out and had this caught fire, it would have ignited a wooden shed with 2 motorcycles inside and probably also ignited the garage with a minivan, Studebaker Hawk and my touring bike.

After we got that portion of the fire out, the boy noticed a car at the end of the driveway still burning. Since the fire had fence posts burning and was still spreading elsewhere, I figured I'd grab the camera to document the scene should it end up being an insurance claim. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the completely burned out SUV and saw the charred remnants of a corpse. When I say remants, that's exactly what I mean. The fire was so hot it melted the aluminum wheels into molten puddles and had reduced the body to mostly bones and very little else. I took a few shots of the SUV for the local paper.

Seeing the body didn't really bother me until later that day I found the 22 year old kid driving had graduated with my younger son. The first thing I though of was that it could have been my kid and how terrible his parents felt. Rather unsettling to say the least. From the tracks, he never braked and likely fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree. I just hope he never knew what happened. Considering how quickly the fire was spreading, had my boy gotten up maybe 5 minutes later, the hay and buildings would have been in flames. Apparently someone was looking out for me, but unfortunately not for the poor kid.

Last Sunday night, my 25 year old son had to go pe... (show quote)

That is something the way these events played out.
I am very sorry that this story had such a sad ending and I am certain you feel the same way. Thanks for sharing
Saying hello from Pittsburgh

lindadee921 Loc: MONTANA

So sorry for the loss of all involved. In your case.............miracles do happen. Believe.