The early bird gets the worm.

I woke up at 7am today from the "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" of Mikey's Fire Pager. I stumbled out of bed as I caught the last bit of the page... sounded like an actual fire call. I called out for Mikey, but I didn't get any response. Maybe he had already left? I walked back into our bedroom and looked out the window. All the vehicles were still in the driveway. I noticed that the front door was open, and I knew that Mikey was planning on waking up early to finish some yard work from yesterday- so I walked out the front door and called for him, but there was no answer. Same with out back.

I called him on his cell phone - he was in the garden - Mikey was already up at 6am picking up the twigs and leaves that I raked up yesterday. We were going to get up early and go into Edmonton today, so he figured if he got up early enough and finished the yard work, it wouldnt interfear with our plans to go into the city. So Mikey jumped in the car, and went down to the fire hall. Colt (the dog) and I went for a walk around the yard to see how much cleaning up he had gotten done, and then waved to the Fire Engines as they sped past.

Now I'm sitting in the living room while the dog sleeps and the cat sun bathes, and take this opportunity to check my emails and update my blogs. Ive been watching the tanker truck drive back and forth to fill up with more water. This week is supposed to be Mikey's week off work, but I suppose a volunteer fire fighter is never off duty. Hopefully the fire is contained and even put out. Some calls that Mikey has gone to, can last for 4, 5 hours and the fire is only contained, but still at the scale that they cant put it out and they just have to wait till it burns out.

I suppose it's a bit harder when you live in the country and there are no hydrants, and all you have to rely on is your tanker truck to keep coming and going with new loads of water. If you run out of water, and your truck isn't back yet, you just have to wait! Its a scary thought, especially since Mikey has experienced it first hand. When he was young, his home burnt down, that was out in the country too. Mikey's dad says that the fire department even drained a slough for more water, but the house still burnt to the ground.

Hopefully there is a better outcome for this fire!