The experienced Division Supervisor was extremely distraught over what had just happened…

If you listen to many of my stories you probably already know that this week’s title might be a bit tongue in cheek… and of course it is. What you’ll hear is a story of how firefighters had to deal with an angry landowner at a large brush fire. The farmer had his own idea about how the firefighters should be fighting the fire. He didn’t really care about what the firefighters thought. He was worried about his wheat crop that was in the path of the brush fire. It was a large fire and to be honest, his crop really was at risk of being burned by the oncoming fire. But the firefighters were experienced and their priority after life safety was protection of property and that standing crop was very valuable. The firefighters would do their best to protect it. The farmer wasn’t listening. I hope you’ll listen to the story and understand one more of the complexities that firefighters are dealing with in the rural west.