Fire season

well, the Ranch made it through nearly the entire dry season without having a single fire...until last night. around 8pm last night, as i was leaving my room, i ran into herds of our older boys charging up the mountain behind my house. naturally i asked them what they were doing, because generally they are not allowed up near our houses. they were off to fight a fire. i looked off in the distance, and large flames appeared up near where our cemetery is (which is about an hour hike up the mountain, so quite far away from any of our buildings or farms).

this morning i woke up to smoke surrounding my house, and a huge army truck, full of soldiers from the army base in la venta, a nearby village. apparently the fire carried on through the night, and was getting closer and closer to our homes.

the only fires i have seen here haven't been too intense, and have not posed a serious danger to the Ranch. so, assuming things were under control, i left around 7am to go into the city for work. when we were returning around 2pm, from the highway we could see the fire had spread to much of the mountainside, and the entire area was covered by smoke. walking up the road on the ranch from the highway, i was beginning to get a feel for what damage had been done. the smoke was coming from the direction of my room, so naturally i got a little worried.

by the time i got to my room, the children and employees were just heading out, after a long day of firefighting. all of the flames had been put out, but smoke was still going strong. at least an entire crop field was destroyed, and the fire reached the tia housing, which is just behind where i live. fortunately, nothing happened to our homes, they are just currently filled with smoke and ashes.

a team of firefighters just arrived, just for monitoring purposes. there are still a few trees that look a little threatening, so hopefully they'll get everything under control. typical honduras...the firefighters arrive after all of our children have been out all day stopping the flames. and, there goes right now the, what appears to be the entire honduran army, who have been here helping us. although they can be machista pigs, they are at least good for putting out fires.

** photo is a view just outside my room