Fire, Fire, everywhere...

Did I get your attention?

Last night after dinner, the wife and daughter went to the local truck stop with the neighbors for ice cream. Once they made it to the top of the driveway, they could see the smoke billowing from the brush fire Southeast of town. What started as a small 3-4 acre brush fire on a remote mountain side, has spread, and is quickly becoming a monster brush fire. A couple of nights ago, on my way from work I could see the glow from what could only be a good size fire, I would guess it has burned at least a hundred acres now.
As they were traveling down the highway, discussing the BLM's lack of concern for small brush fires until they grow into monsters, they come across a garage fire on the frontage road to the highway. The wife promptly calls 911 to report it, was the first to do so, then heads to their destination. On the way back home they discover the fire truck sitting on the side of the road. They stop to ask how they were able to put the fire out so quickly. In which they respond they could not find it...
So being the great citizen she is, she led them down the 3 miles of road to the now fully engulfed garage.
This is not a rant against firefighters or the local, all volunteer fire station. Just an observation of effectiveness of public servants. Just because public services are available, does not guarantee that they will be successful in protecting life or property. Either by decision, or mistake, these public programs, that we all pay for are not 100% effective. Sometimes we are not getting what I would call a suitable return on our investment of tax dollars. The BLM should have attacked that small brush fire on the first day. The 911 operator should have relayed the information correctly to the local fire department, and the volunteers should have driven down the frontage road to at least attempt to find the fire they were responding to.
All this is a mute point for us. We live were there is little to no services available to us. When our property was burglarized a few years ago, we could not get the sheriff out here to file a report. (The road was too rough according to the sheriffs department) Our county maintained road from our private maintain road to the highway, was down to one lane this summer for 35 days, due to the county's lack of action to fix it. In fact the road is quickly becoming nothing more than a goat trail due to the county's lack of spending on gravel and oil to maintain a solid roadbed. Opting instead to spend money on a grader and operator every time we get a dozen drops of rain, to come out and move sand and mud of the road.
Well, ok I guess this is a rant. I just wished that the money our local government receives from us, was spent better and that the services they provide worked better. Is that too much to ask?

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com