Like a Good Neighbor Volunteer Firefighters Are There for Us

It was a very bright and clear day as well as extremely windy today when I went to the Triple R Lazy D Ranch to visit our neighbor Ray and to check out his new livestock.  While we were examining his horses and newborn lambs, we heard a large number of sirens blaring from emergency vehicles coming up the hill.  It was unusual for emergency vehicles to come up our mountain top with lights and sirens at full tilt.  We did not think anything of it and resumed our visit.  However, we did not realize a brush fire had erupted on our side of the mountain located near the Delaware Water Gap in the Poconos of Northeast Pennsylvania.

My wife and I finished with our visit and proceeded home only to find our street partially blocked by emergency vehicles.  A quick discussion with one of the emergency responders confirmed there was a brush fire on Turkey Court and emergency vehicles were on their way up the hill but we were free to drive past in order to reach our home.  Our neighbor Ray was still back at the ranch so I gave him a call to let him know there was a fire a block from house.

We did not want to get in the way so my wife and I simply went home to have some lunch.  Unfortunately, the urge to go out and snap a few photos was too strong.  I wolfed down my meatloaf sandwich and headed out with my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and slapped on a 70-200mm/2.8 to see what I can get.  Since it was the middle of the day, I also threw on an 81A warming filter on my lens to minimize the impact of the harsh overhead sunlight.

By the time I jumped on my ATV and rode the mile over to the fire, all the excitement was over.  What I missed turned out to be a two-acre brush fire on Turkey Court off of Cummins Hill Road in Westfall Township, PA where volunteers and equipment from all over the county including Westfall Township, Dingman’s Ferry, Matamoras and Mill Rift responded.  There were all kinds of vehicles there including brush trucks which have four-wheel drive and carry 250 gallons of water, tanker trucks that carry 2000 gallons of precious water, ladder trucks, ambulances and command vehicles.  And, of course, the all important volunteers.

All was not lost, I got to chat it up with a couple of volunteers monitoring the road and snap a few photos of some great machinery and even better people who offer their services to the community for nothing but the thanks of their friends and neighbors.