Today was...
Well I don't really know what to make of this day.
It was by far the most heart throbbing and scariest day I've ever experienced in a long time, it made everything I ever worried about seem like fodder.
This was certainly not what I had in mind to share on Hive tonight.
I was at work, it was just after one in the afternoon and while I was working I heard my Old Pops talking on the phone about a fire going on, it went above my head but when he put the phone down he didn't even look at me he just said "The farm is burning" and he was on the phone again by the time he was done with the sentence.
It took me a second to realize what was going on but before I knew it I had everything of value and I told him we are leaving! I didn't even ask my boss. "I told him, we are leaving!
Fortunately I have a great boss as he urged me on to get out of there.
I live roughly 15 kilometers away from work and I was about two kilometers away from my work place when I saw the smoke and seeing the smoke so far I knew this was no small fire. This was something serious.
Usually people always over exaggerate situations but no one could really tell us what was going on, but we were on our way and while I was driving home I thought about what I would do? How am I going to stop this?
When I arrived on the farm it was only my stepdad and my brother in law there with two oaks on a pickup that had a water tank on it. Me and my Old Pops drove past to unlock both of the farm gates on the farthest end so that if all else fails we had an escape route and when the neighboring farmers came they had a easy way onto the farm.
By the time we unlocked the gates the fire was about 500 meters further from where it was when I arrived, it moved quickly and erratically jumping from one side to the next as the wind kept changing directions.
By far the scariest situation I have ever been in and I've come pretty close to death before but this was so different.
While we were busy on the frontline of it I heard faint voices screaming at each other giving commands, this way, that way, leave that area. I heard tractors going about but the rumble of the fire seemed to drown it all out eventually. I couldn't see anything because the smoke was too thick, but I knew people we don't even know was there helping.
Helping Hands.
By the time we had it under control I was able to take a breather and get this video, I never knew time could go by so fast, it felt like 15 minutes which in reality was actually more than two hours.
This was on the farthest side of the farm, the fire has already moved through the whole of our farm but fortunately enough we were able to stop it from jumping over the road. If the fire did however manage to jump the road things would have gotten real terrible not for us but for a whole bunch of people living in town because there would have been no way to stop it then the terrain was inaccessible and we basically don't have a Fire Department in our town anymore. (Thanks to the wonderful ruling party of the country we don't have much of anything left.)
If us the people don't stand together in times like these we would all certainly perish.
The Aftermath.
In this video you can see in the distance how the horse dung and bushels are still smoldering away.
Fortunately for us, we didn't lose a single horse, sheep or buck in the process, neither did any house or vehicle burn down. It was a touch and a go situation though the fires went right past the farm houses and it could have been a very different situation if the wind decided to blow in a different direction.
We could have lost everything but we didn't! I would count us lucky beyond measures.
Looking At The Bright Side.
We lost around 70-80% of the usable pastures and since we have horses this would most likely affect us financially because horses do eat a lot. Since we got the farm the worst fear we had was a fire raging through it and look at us now making the best of it. As I said it could have been so much worse, at-least we still have some grazing field left not all is gone.
The best thing about this is that the fields are going to come back so much more healthier than they were, pulling a few bucks out of the pocket to feed the horses for the rest of the season is just something we will have to do and it won't kill us to do so, it would surely hurt us a little but still, I'm just trying to look at the bright side of things here.
The best part is everyone kept asking what all the smoke around Bloem was. Little did I know it was the farm 🙉. When I called Tobia to tell her since her work is next to it, she instantly got on the group to ask if people knew. And without hesitation a few farmers replied that they saw and are on their way to help. It just shows, farmers are willing to help even if they don't know you. It's something beautiful you got to see even if it was tragic.
I'm glad nothing was damaged and all the animals are safe. My biggest concern yesterday was the animals and your grandfather.
!LUV
Good to see.
@technicalside, @misshugo(1/3) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. InfoYou know it just comes to show that you can never think something wont happen to you, I mean after all why not you?
Yeah, it was amazing actually, how everyone came to help and as fast as they came they were gone again. I didn't even greet anyone. It was just like okay our job is done bye. 🤣
The animals, well that could have gone so much worse!
!PIZZA
!LUV
@misshugo, @technicalside(2/3) sent you LUV. | discord | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. Infoprairie fires are fast and fierce. Like you said, the grass will grow back better if you can just hold out until then, and at least you dodged the loss of structures and vehicles.
We dodged a big bullet there for sure... I wished I was able to get a airial photo of the farm somehow, it would speak a thousand words alone.
We can count ourselves lucky...
Yeah it was fast, I never thought it to be so... So scary.. But it's done and dusted with and I learned a great deal from this.
!PIZZA
!LUV
@jacobtothe, @technicalside(2/3) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. InfoOh man that looks hectic! I am so glad the houses are okay! I'm sure the fields will grow back with interest like you say... Good luck with sourcing the extra feed you need in the meantime!!
They sure will!
Me too though it would have been a horrid thing if the houses burned down or any animals.
We've received quite a few donations of teff bales already, I hope that's the right wording of it in English 😂but yes the community is really chipping in nicely, I think it's more of a "what comes around goes around situation" the year before last we organized a massive donation of feed for a lot of farmers in the area who were affected by drought... Granted we didn't give that much to what people gave but organizing the whole thing we never thought to get as much support as we did. You give and you get hey!
!PIZZA
Always a bad situation in the flames. I remember our last fire with 5 mansions gone up in smoke.
Fortunately, your house was not damaged and nothing was killed. Do you know how the fire started?
!BEER
Sheesh yeah I heard about the fires down at the coast, ironic how there are fires down there with it being so humid and moist. Remember those that tore through Mosselbay and George a few years back??
It was someone living in a shanty next to our neighboring farm, from what I heard they made a fire and left. I do think it was planned because as we gunned homewards we saw a whole bunch of freshly lit fires next to the highways and quite a few burning out and about around the town.
!BEER
Yep! That fire in George was indeed a very scary affair. I was in the army in Oudtshoorn in 72 and we had to go and help with the fires. Some really terrible sights, especially with all of the dead little animals.
Bad news indeed, but this s the new South Africa that is busy going haywire. Much worse is going to happen methinks!
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @technicalside, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @papilloncharity for you. Enjoy it!Did you know that <a href='https://dcity.io/cityyou can use BEER at dCity game to buy cards to rule the world.
That is crazy!
I am glad that you guys survived and not all is lost there. Hopefully you are able to rebuild and make it through what is to come also.
Australia is known for its fires too and they can get very scary indeed...
Keep us updated. It will be interesting to see what happens from here too.
It was. I didn't expect it to be like it was, you won't think that a fire can make such rumbling noises👀
But we made it and however bad this may sound I'm glad I got a chance to experience it. As I told the Betty, now I have some idea of what to do even though you won't be able to do much when you're alone. The knowledge is powerfull.
I heard about those recent wildfire they had there, a few years back but that was real bad. I've got family living abroad there, I can not begin to comprehend how crazy those must have been. Ours is nothing compared.
Thanks a lot!
Daaamn, bro!! Thank goodness for a safe ending to your worst nightmare! 🙏 glad everyone made it through to tell the tale.
What started the whole thing?
Yeahp, I came home tonight seemingly unaware of how it would look. Seeing the barren blackened land felt very weird to say the least. Scary as well..
But we made it through, thanks to a lot of people that came to help.
It was someone living in a shanty who made a fire and then left it unattended. It started on the farm next to ours.
!LUV
@emanate-artworx, @technicalside(1/3) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. InfoOh, noo! It's one thing when it starts from a natural cause, but when it's a man-made disaster 🫣.
Yep, that's the way it should be, neighbors helping one another when it really counts. Plus, like you said, the ground will be extra fertile now. Silver lining 😌
Holy shit.
It was quite a "Holy shit" moment.
!PIZZA
Congratulations @technicalside! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next payout target is 11000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out our last posts:
$PIZZA slices delivered:
technicalside tipped xkasabian
technicalside tipped jasperdick
@technicalside(2/5) tipped @misshugo
technicalside tipped jacobtothe
View or trade
BEER.Hey @technicalside, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @papilloncharity for you. Enjoy it!If you like BEER and want to support us please consider voting @louis.witness on HIVE and on HIVE Engine.