Flame On!

So yesterday, there was almost a forest fire behind my work.

Allow me to explain. The place where I work is a building nestled within an apartment complex called In The Pines. Most, if not all, of my students are residents of this apartment complex, which is fairly remote, and surrounded by agricultural fields (where a lot of the people work) and, as the name suggests, a pine forest.

Well, the weather here in Florida has been very, very dry for a long time now. Residents act as if this is great -- every time it sprinkles, the local weatherperson assures us that it won't last, and that we'll have warm, sunny, cloudless weather for the rest of the week as if it's a good thing. Which is why I loathe local weatherpeople. Driving to work each day, I notice the grass turning brown, and the littler palm trees withering and dying. It will rain occasionally, but only very briefly, and the water almost immediately evaporates.

So what we have is a stand of pine trees, not even 25 feet away from inhabited apartment buildings, which are very dry. Not a recipe for delight.

Well, we had a fairly major thunderstorm yesterday, which finally saturated the ground a little bit. I was at the library when it happened, trying to find resources. Then, on the way back here, I notice a column of smoke rising from the trees. It turns out that the lightning had struck right in the middle of them. All the adults who were home were standing in the parking lot, watching, and wondering what they ought to do. I honestly had no idea.

Someone must have had an idea, because in short order, the fire department showed up. Originally only two trucks, but it must have been bigger than they thought, because five trucks were eventually used to try to contain the fire. And they were here for a couple of hours, at least. The rain started falling harder, too, which probably made a big difference on their efforts to control it. The after-school program ended up being the only one that was affected, and we had regular classes last night.


Other than that, my life is drama free. I did change my medical insurance plan yesterday, because they had upped the rates on the plan I had, and I'm tired of seeing my paycheck evaporate before my eyes.