In a rural community, it may be a half mile or so to your neighbors, but your neighbor just might be your local volunteer fireman/woman.
Not too long ago I had a fire start in a rural subdivision that I was marketing in Shepherd Montana, a grass fire not a house fire. The local rural fire department responded and worked all day and into the evening to put out the embers and hay bales that take a long time to burn.
The owner of the subdivision, from Phoenix, was notified of the situation. His response was not one of gratefulness, but one of thoughtlessness "well, there's a fire department right? I'm sure they'll handle it, that's what I pay those taxes for". I might add that at the time he was 2 years behind in his taxes.
I thought, you jerk, these people left their jobs and families to come out to your land and fight this fire and you have no appreciation for their work and dedication. I myself thanked the firefighters and brought them pizza and drinks. They wanted me to know how the dry grass was such a dangerous fire hazard that they were really glad we didn't have a wind.
Just remember, as we head into fire season, that some people are such good neighbors that they'll drop what they're doing and come and put your fires out.
Help them out and thank them whenever you get the chance.
On a local note, thank you to Lance Taylor, EJ Jensen (my husbands cousin) and Keith Kolstad for the hard work writing and applying for a $935,487 grant to fund new communications equipment for following departments: Worden, Shepherd, Custer, Molt, Broadview, Blue Creek, Haley Bench and Lockwood.
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