In the Still of the Night

Did you ever have one of those days when something comes over you and gives you a nudge or feeling? I used to have those “feelings” that made me leery of things. I left work at 6:15 p.m. Monday evening and as I left several vehicles with flashing lights were approaching me and then turned toward the fire hall. The men were running from their vehicles, leaving little time to make an imprint in the snow their feet were moving so fast.

I called my boss at the office and told him the fire crew was headed out – if he was needing a space filler yet he might be able to see what was going on and get a quick story or pictures. He said he was doing ok with space and if something came up or we found any information we might consider it. He had done his days of chasing firetrucks or ambulances…perhaps in his younger days.

When I got home I called a client to make arrangements for Tuesday (I do homemaker duties for the Council on Aging) and before hanging up asked if she might know of a fire, she replied she didn’t.

So I called my daughter-in-law Corrine and asked her, “Do you know where the fire is? The firetrucks are headed out.”

“YES! The fire is here – there’s a pickup in the barn that caught on fire!”

A couple quick phone calls and we (daughter Janine and troops) are on the road. We know the way so we’ll make better time than the firetrucks trying to navigate in the dark.

To settle your nerves at this point – all is fine, no one got hurt and the fire did minimal damage, compared to what it could have done.

When the pressure is off…we are mingling around and finding out some details of the evening. This might just be like your evening went.

Scott and Corrine had left the girls, Sidney and Teddi, with her folks out east for the night, as Scott was going to take Corrine to Havre to the hospital. Her West Nile and other related health issues were in a flare and she wasn’t feeling good. They got home and while Scott did up the chores he started up a pickup in the barn just to charge the battery. He went about doing his chores and came back to find the pickup was on fire!

Immediately Scott grabs a garden hose, and I don’t believe it was a successful attempt as he then went to the house and told Corrine and she called 911. Scott knew neighbor, Lance Hould, kept their garden hoses in a heated shed and called him.

Lance shared how things went at his end of the call. “I was leaning over trying to get cattle in a cattle pot and loaded when I got Scott’s call. I dropped my cell phone in the cow crap and picked it up and wiped it off some. All I could hear was something about a fire and a hose and I just finished up as quickly as I could and headed out.”

Neighbor Larry Smith said they got a call from Scott, “He was just regular tone nothing excited – just asked if we might have a garden hose or two that was warm and usable?” Larry said, “I told him I’d ask Michelle if she had one, and then I asked him what he needed one for?”

“Well, I have a pickup in the barn and it’s on fire.” Larry said, “I told him I’d get one over to him!”

Down in the valley, Jesse Benson got a call about the fire and Jesse jumped in his pickup and headed up the hill with a handheld fire extinguisher.

Upon arrival Jesse called out for Scott, got no answer and looked around, finding no one. He continued to call out and started to panic – the pickup that was in flames looked to be the one Terry Lindgren drives…so he looked around and started calling his name. Still no answer, so he presumed no one was in the vehicle.

He pulled the pin on the extinguisher and sprayed the contents but it seemed to fizzle out and quit. Scott came from the house from having made phone calls.

Along comes the flashing lights of the volunteer fire department and as they broke the crest of the hill and could see the place, they were relieved it was contained to a vehicle and the barn itself had not been involved. The barn, a metal Behlen building, had survived the evening’s flames.

When the first firetruck arrived, Scott had been able to get the vehicle with the welder pulled out of the building to safety.

With the help of the firetruck and good-sized tow ropes, the assembled crew of firemen, and Scott and Jesse were able to retrieve another vehicle from the building that was parked behind the pickup on fire. Vehicles in “PARK” that are not running do not move well and it took some doings to get things lined out.

As the pickup that was on fire continued to burn, it was also hooked on to by the firetruck to finally reach the front of the barn. The firemen used the jaws-of-life to open the hood to finally disperse water and drench the vehicle to make it extinguished enough to be considered safe to leave.

Scott spent the night keeping an eye on it; their trip to the ER was cancelled for the night.

Josh Neuman, head of the fire department, was on the scene and stated they were glad the outcome was actually a good evening. The weather was much better than what had been anticipated and the crew was all thanked and went back to the fire hall in good spirits. When the pressure is off and they are able to de-escalate and wind down, life is good and there were even smiles and laughter amid the darkness. While the vehicle was a total loss, everyone could not ask for a better closure to the night on the brisk winter night. The fire department comes highly recommended from the Hould’s.