Lake Martin Topics: I love the Renfro VFD

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	Name:	RatherBeSkiing -
	Subject:	I love the Renfro VFD
	Date:	2/23/2008 12:03:05 PM

Stemley VFD is the OTHER side of the lake. Renfro VFD responded to my call. Great guys.

There's not a fire hydrant anywhere near us. My father had always told us that if the house caught fire it would burn. He also told us right before he died that the fireplace needed to be checked and not to use it until it was. My brother said he had it checked and it was OK to use. It was winter a couple of years ago. My son and the neighbor’s son started a fire in the fireplace and put in a piece of wood that had a huge knot in it and evidently a TON of sap. Well, when that thing caught, the fire got huge and the flames were going up into the chimney.

My daughter and my neighbor’s daughter left our house to walk next door but came running back into the house saying there were flames leaping out of the chimney outside. I went outside and when I saw it I freaked. I just knew the chimney must have had a crack and the flames were going into the attic of the house. Of course my fathers warning was the first thing I thought of. I knew I was getting ready to watch our house burn to the ground. I called 911 and that's when I realized I didn't know the address. The woman must have thought I was an idiot (well...yeah).
I told her I would go to the street and wait for them.

Not 5 minutes later a guy in a pickup showed up. He had been at his girlfriends house across the slough when he got the call. About 5 minutes after that the fire truck showed up with 4 more guys. Our drive is gravel and they said they couldn't get the truck down to the house or lake.
At that point I sat on the ground behind the fire truck thinking if the house was going to burn I couldn't bear to watch.

Sorry, long story - one of the firemen put on asbestos gloves and took the burning wood out of the fireplace and threw it outside. Then he set off a kind of bottle rocket thing into the fireplace that extinguished all the flames in the chimney. They checked the attic and all was OK. What had happened was that the residue in the chimney had started burning from the intense flames created by the mondo piece of wood and sap.

If our house had really been on fire - it would have burned to the ground. There's no way to get water to it. Thank goodness it didn't. If my father’s spirit resides anywhere it's at the lake house. That house may be just a structure - it's hard to put into words what it means to my whole family. From my childhood through my children's childhood - it's all about family and fun and togetherness. It has been such an important part of all of our lives.

I can't say enough about the Renfro VFD. They were great. The only thing they didn't have was marshmallows.