Fire Safety Tips

With the three tents burning up at the SW, I thought it might be time for a little discussion on fire safety, and picking y'all's brains for ideas to keep us all safe. I have been coming to 'voos for nearly 6 years now, and have (knock on wood) never seen a tent fire till now. But I think all of us at the SW were conscious of how much we take for granted after that experience, and how lucky we all may have been before now. At the AMM doin's in January up in Linden, we had a spark jump the logs in our camp while we were all at the meeting and camp feed, but thankfully the neighbors woke up from a nap in their tent to go pee, and saw the grass afire and beat it out. It came within literally two inches of our diamond fly before they got it out

So, here's some fire safety tips for us Rendezvous-ers, gleaned from recent experience at the Southwestern, and other advice - please reply with additions to the list!:

1. Rules of most 'voos say you MUST have a fire extinguisher (A-B-C type is the one you need) and/or a two-gallon bucket of water near the fire at all times. DO IT. Booshways and dog soldiers, please enforce it. This isn't an arbitrary nit-picky rule, it could save your own life and your neighbors'.

2. Good idea to keep a burlap tow-sack or a piece of other strong cloth/blanket near that bucket, to wet the cloth/sack and slap out grass fires and early canvas fires. It is very effective and doesn't use up as much water as throwing it on the fire.

3. A thick wool blanket thrown over a fire will often smother it, they say.

4. Do not throw water on a grease fire in a skillet. A CLUMP of flour (not a thin scattering of flour, it will burn too) will smother it, so will putting a lid on it(safer), or using baking soda (but it takes a LOT of baking soda). Easiest is to find a lid (not glass, it will break. Do not try to carry the grease outside, you will get burned and drop it. Find a lid, tin plate, etc, and put it on it.

5. Better to make a canvas PC cover (labeled fire) for the fire extinguisher and keep it out, than in the tent or under canvas where it is hard to find.

6. If your tent has BLACK POWDER in it and it is on fire, let someone know! That way they don't get killed going in there when it blows up.

7. Ladies, be careful with those long skirts on and long loose sleeves, around the fire. Burning to death was a common cause of death among pioneer women. Stop, drop and roll.

8. Some of us geezers/city-slickers need/want heat in the tent at night. Some bring propane and keep it out of sight. As evidenced at the SW, this can go awry, but so can an open fire. Be careful with any source of heat in the tent or tipi. Leave the flap cracked a little to let in oxygen if you are burning propane, especially if you are sleeping on the ground - propane is heavier than air. Some propane heaters will cut off if the CO2 level gets too high, and we have never had a problem with John's, but a battery operated CO2 detector in the tent on the floor, might not be a bad idea. Propane safety info:
http://www.gasco-propane.com/Files/safety.html

9. "Fire-retardant" does NOT mean "fire-proof". ANY canvas will burn. Fire retardant means that probably a stray spark will not be enough to catch it on fire, but a steady flame source will ignite it every time.

10. wood vs. metal candle lanterns - we all love the ambiance of candle lanterns at a 'voo, but we have all seen the wood-framed ones catch on fire or nearly do so if the candle tips against the wood. Keep those outside the tent, and maybe think about getting a metal/tin-framed one to use inside. Be careful with that one too, if it tips over and the glass shatters, fire gets out of that one too.

11. Do not leave a fire unguarded. If you are leaving camp and have something cooking, ask your neighbor to come over and watch it. Better yet, stay in camp. Bank the fire at night or any time you leave camp, with dirt or thick ashes, so it doesn't flare up again and get out of hand. Of course, dig the usual fire pit and keep some logs around it too to contain sparks. Rake/hoe/dig the dry grass away from the fire area for a couple-three feet.

12. One guy said he taught his kids to sleep with their knives ON THEM, to cut their way out of a tent in an emergency (fire, grizzly attack, etc.). At least put it in the same place every night, within easy reach - like under the pillow, or right by the center pole next to the flashlight and hooter bag. If you had been in that tipi when the grass fire hit the only door, what would you do? I doubt if you could pull up the stakes and wriggle out under a tight canvas in time. A knife makes a handy "back door" anywhere you need it.

13. When there is a fire, yell "FIRE". You may think, "well, DUH!", but in a panic folks often yell other things that are not as effective. The Cajun guy yelled "help me", other folks at Bugs' fire yelled "bring water". Yell "FIRE" as loud as you can and repeatedly in all directions - that word alone tells folks what to do, and will wake them up. Designate someone to keep yelling "fire" to summon more help as you fight the fire. Maybe that is why Cuz and John and I slept through the first two fires, we thought it was just rowdy-camp noise from 40 feet away. I mean I was asleep, they probably did yell "fire", but I didn't hear it.

14. Booshways and future booshways, make sure you tell folks at the 'voo what county you are in so the campers will know what to tell 911 operators if they have to call out on a cell phone in an emergency. Tell or show the local EMS and firefighters and county sheriff how to find your remote campsite, before the 'voo. That will save time and possibly lives in an emergency situation.

15. Cigarette butts should never hit the ground at a 'voo (or anywhere else, for that matter). Do not flick your ashes onto dry grass or the hay-covered floor of a saloon or tent. Put it out safely and put it in the fire pit, or put it in your pocket to carry home to your trash. Spit on that ciggie-butt and make sure it is drowned out before putting it in MY trash, or I'll kick YOUR butt.

I am repeating the part about grass fire speed from the last email, in case you didn't have the patience to get through that long-winded one and read about it:
"Funny thing is, as I was driving home from the SW 'voo there was someone on the radio talking about fire danger and how fast a grass fire can move. He said it can burn along at 4 miles an hour. Now that may not sound too fast, but if you do the math, that is one mile of country in 15 minutes, so...(5280 feet divided by 15 minutes is 352 feet per minute - yikes!) that means a grass fire fueled by a high wind and dry grass CAN BURN AN AREA THE LENGTH OF A FOOTBALL FIELD IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. LESS. THAN. A. MINUTE. That's about SIX FEET PER SECOND. That is why George's tipi burned - only took a SECOND or two for that fire to jump the 8 feet or so to the canvas, even with him carefully watching and only 20 feet away. FIRE IS OUR FRIEND BUT IT IS A DANGEROUS BEDFELLOW..."

Dry leaves and pine needles burn just as fast as grass, and yaupon burns like Kleenex also. Yaupon and other brush and low branches makes a nice "fire ladder" up into the tree canopy in a forest, and it the fire gets up in that pine/cedar canopy, you and all your neighbors are literally toast unless you call 911 and get bulldozers in there to clear a firebreak and let fire trucks in to it, to stop it. I helped save my friend Paul St. Louis's house from a forest fire in the pine woods north of Bastrop one time, and it gave me a serious respect for fire. All I had experienced up to that time, were grass fires, but that big bad boy made a grass fire look like a birthday candle by comparison!

So anyway, I ain't trying to make anybody paranoid, just trying to keep my friends safe! I am by no means an expert on fire safety either, so please reply with any corrections or helpful hints/additions to this list, so we can all be safe and relax and have a good time, knowing we have taken all reasonable precautions. After we get a few more good suggeations, hints, and advice, let's pass this on to other 'voo groups, so we can all be aware and safe. Yeah, I know I used "safe" a lot in this last paragraph, but I mean it!

Contributed by Patsy "Magpie" Harper

Southwestern report - 3 tent fires

Short story: 3 tents burn in one day, nobody seriously hurt. Two tents belonged to Cajun Johnny, & Bugs and Linda, and the tipi was George Wilburn's.

Long story: (scroll down for fire details)

I have some pics of the SW, including fire-damage, up on my Photobucket website here:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/soquili/Southwestern%202008/
click on the box at left on that page for pics of the buffalo skinning demo in another folder, or use this link:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/soquili/Southwestern%202008/
Buffalo%20skinning%20demo%20SW%202008/

Um, if you are squeamish or the sight of blood bothers you, or you are a vegetarian, better not go to that second link!LOL It's for carnivores only...

Other than the fire thing, we had a good time at the SW! Cuz and John went up on Thursday and ran into snow around Dennison, last 3 hours were 20 miles an hour in 4-wheel drive in a blizzardy near-white-out, pulling the 'voo trailer. So they grabbed a motel room in Atoka for the night and drove out on Friday morning and set up then. Muddy conditions at the site due to the melted snow, but it had good grass cover so it was ok except for the road in.

I got there late Friday (had 20-mile-an-hour driving too for a while as I hit Dallas at 5:00 on a Friday - LOL) and promptly got stuck but had sense enough to shut the car off and not spin the wheels and wait till the next day to get out. It froze during the night and the road in was easier after that.

Camp was in a beautiful valley with some seeps and springs in the middle. Camp wound up being kind of strung out, as folks camped along the road going in, due to wet conditions the first weekend. Long-term was on the right end going in, traders strung out along the middle and around the camp meeting place, and rowdy camp and short-term on the left side. So ya got yer exercise wandering from one end to the other!

John Billington got hisself a fancy new pony for this one, a red 4-wheeled electric scooter, so he got to go "cruisin' and perusin'" any time he felt like it! Said it was like being let out of jail, he didn't realize how much he missed that freedom since he had to go on oxygen and be tied down. I tried to talk him and Iron Hand into a race with their scooters, but they wouldn't do it! Iron Hand's scooter had 3 wheels, so my money was on John's hoss! John will probably bring his new red pony to the TAB, so git ready for him to come say "hello the camp" and bum a beer off ya!

Sterling and Kelly did a great job as booshways, handling all the fun things that a big 'voo throws at ya. It's always a challenge! For folks who complain about such things, my thought is, "here's yer clipboard, let's see how you would do it". I know I appreciate all the hard work and planning that goes into an event like that, or even a regular weekend 'voo, so my hat's off to all of you who have stepped up and given it your best shot. Thanks!

We camped next to Lil' Griz, and he's always a riot to be around. :-) Jonathan Carlin was on the other side of us and James Bryan camped with him for a few days, good neighbors too - thanks for the wine selection, Jonathan! Slayer and Bobcat weren't too far away, and brought us some grilled trout one day - delicious!! There was an older couple behind us who had a big gooseneck trailer with a winch and offloaded a cool log cabin for the week! Beautiful painted tipi behind us too, belonging to Russ and Marnie from Wisconsin, I think. Russ played a mean guitar, and Marnie plays harmonica, so they added to the ambiance over near Bugs and Willie Glover's tents for music around the fire. Daing I can't remember their names, but the two guys who play bagpipes and bodhrans were there, and Steve Sprinkle too, and Critter, and several other folks. Cyrus showed up later in the week with his Jew's harps and string bass. CRS, can't remember the long-haired bushy-bearded fellow who has the website with pics on it (something-Bear) but he was there too, and played at Miss Andrea and Turtle Woman's "Blushing Ankle" saloon/tavern a couple of nights. John and Cuz and I had a good time there too, and John developed a new fondness for grapes! :-) Serving wenches were very talented, and so were the strapping young serving boys at the ladies' social held there! I hear lots of quarters were won and lost at the nightly card games there too.

I took my Malamute, Shadow, and he had a fun time going "wooo-woooo" and getting folks to pet him and tell him he was purty. Crafty lil' devil made an escape from his crate one night when I didn't quite get the bolt latch all the way closed after a midnight pee trip, and sneaked out of the tent to do a little "tipi-creeping'" of his own at about 3am. One of the folks he surprised was No-Nose's wife Teresa, who had stepped out of the tent to answer the call of nature, and she looked up from a squat to find herself eye-to-eye with what she thought was a wolf at first, till she saw his collar! She found out she could cut it off in mid-stream! His next visit was over to the other traders who had a full-blood female wolf (half timber, half red wolf) named Baby, who had been flirting with Shadow the day before. Turns out she only wanted to play and wasn't in the mood, but the racket they made woke up her owner twice. So the second time he caught Shadow but didn't know exactly where I was camped, so he took him out to the gate where there were some trailers for trash and the water buffalo, figuring that trailer's safety chain would hold his big ass till morning. Naturally I had a heart attack when we woke up a little after sunup and Cuz said "Where's Shadow??" and his crate was empty!! The last time he went on walkabout at my house, he was gone 4 days and I found him 5 miles as the crow flies from the house! Luckily then too, some folks had tied him up - he'll git shot for a wolf if a rancher catches him on their place. So as I dashed out to find Shadow, some neighbors said they had seen him at the gate and saved me time in the search. Found him wet but warm, thanks to his thick waterproof fur, and glad to see me. But he did git a serious lecture about his escapades. So we came home and found out the story about his new almost-girlfriend from her owner on the way, and I thanked him profusely for containing my rascal and saving him from causing any more trouble.

John's dog Dakota went too, and she had a fine time fetching the rubber foot squeaky toy and badgering everyone but us into playing tug-of-war with her! Shadow and Dakota get along and he got to meet lots of dogs, but I think his favorites were Jan's little Jack-Rat terrorist named Mouse and Irish Kat's little 6-month old Lhassa named Princess. They were gutsy little pups who made friends with the big dog pretty fast.

OK, now for the tent fire stories, compiled from eyewitnesses.
1. First one happened not far from our tent just after folks had shut down the music and gone to bed. There was a Cajun guy named Johnny from Lafayette, thick Cajun accent, good cook by all accounts, and had some good homemade hooch that was about 140 proof and would shoot a blue flame 4 feet high when he spit a mouthful into the fire, and he had a great sense of humor too - this was his first Rendezvous and I hope it won't be his last, despite what happened. I heard all this after the fact, so correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently Cajun Johnny had one of those Coleman gas cylinders with a heater on it in his tent, and was changing out the cylinder. They say if you get them cross-threaded, it can break off a little needle thingy in the valve, and apparently that is what happened, and when he turned the heater on again, gas was spewing out and it caught his tent on fire. Cajun Johnny ran out and called for help and folks came running, but his tent was on the ground in less than 60 seconds. So they helped him pack what was left of his gear and got him on his way to a motel for the night.

2. About 30 minutes after the first fire, folks were taking care of Bugs who was a close neighbor there, because he was having a pain in his chest. Then they noticed that Bugs' and Linda's tent was glowing pretty red, and daing if it wasn't on fire too, on the back side!! So folks came a-running again with fire extinguishers and water and put it out. Had some trouble doing it, flames from the gas were shooting way up above the roof. Somehow, Cuz and John and I slept through it all. With the tents being so close together over there, it is a wonder more tents did not catch from the two that burned. So what happened with Bug's is, either when he and Linda jumped up to help Cajun Johnny, or later when their dogs were in the tent, somehow a candle or candle lantern got knocked over onto a pillow on top of the big propane tank they had in there for the heater and Coleman cookstove, and it caught the pillow on fire and burned through the hose on the propane tank. So that fire got a little propane help too, and burned up the back wall of Bugs tent. He rushed into the burning wall tent, with help from others, to rescue his dogs and his 3 guitars, which were fine. In the process he and another guy inhaled a good bit of smoke, and Bug's chest was still hurting, so the medics gave oxygen to the other guy, and sent Bugs to the hospital to get checked out and to treat the minor burns on his hand. He was released the next day and is fine, other than a light minor burn on two fingers and a little singed beard hair. They lost a few things, some hanging clothes, but their buckskin shirt and dress and Whitney blanket survived. Lil Griz even fixed up Bug's hat for him.

3. AS IF that weren't enough, the next day about mid-afternoon, folks hollered "Fire" again and came a-runnin' to the other end of camp where George Wilburn's tipi was on fire. According to George, he was cooking a pot of beans for supper on the fire out in front of the tipi, and had just put some link sausage into the beans. He had set a pan of bread dough to rise near the fire, and was watching it as he went across the road to speak to a neighbor for a minute. Wasn't gone but a minute, and kept looking back at his fire. The wind was blowing pretty hard from his fire toward the tipi, and next time he looked, a spark had jumped out of the pit and across the log ring and had caught the dry grass and was headed for the door of the tipi! Before he could run across the road (20 feet) and grab the pan of dishwater by the fire it had caught the canvas at the base of the door and tipis being the good chimneys that they are, it went right up the canvas and burned it to the ground. George and his wife lost a lot of gear, but no one was hurt. Good thing the wind wasn't blowing from the other direction too, because his daughter was in the tent on the other side of the fire changing the grandbaby's diaper and there is no back door to that tent. George was devastated, he has been Rendezvous-ing for 30 years or so, and knows fire safety and is very careful with it, but it just shows how fast things can go south on ya. He had made that tipi himself, and he and his wife had just harvested the poles and trimmed and sanded them and oiled them. Most of the poles can be re-used, but a few were too charred. The tipi canvas was a total loss.

So camp had an emergency fire safety meeting later that afternoon, bringing certified EMS medics in attendance to the front so folks could see who their medic-neighbors were and know who to call, and having the folks who had a fire extinguisher in camp to raise their hand and keep it up so folks could see who their neighbors were again and know where to turn in case of another fire. They had fire patrols out at night after that, if your fire was not out and banked with dirt, they put it out and you got a lecture. I don't think they had to give many lectures, as folks were pretty paranoid and careful after that. Found out you need an A-B-C fire extinguisher, not a B-C one. B-C is for electrical and chemical fires, The "A" in A-B-C is for wood, paper, canvas, basically anything that will make an Ash. So the A-B-C kind is the one to get. I think I'm going to make a canvas cover for Cuz's and put a flame symbol or the word Fire on it and keep it out by the fire instead of under the canvas by the coolers or in the tent. That way anyone who needs it can come get it, and find it easily. One real nice thing, there was a guy at the 'voo who refills fire extinguishers for a living, and he refilled anyone's fire extinguisher for free in the parking lot, who had used it up on fighting the fires. Great fellow, real nice thing to do.

Funny thing is, as I was driving home from the 'voo there was someone on the radio talking about fire danger and how fast a grass fire can move. He said it can burn along at 4 miles an hour. Now that may not sound too fast, but if you do the math, that is one mile of country in 15 minutes, so...(5280 feet divided by 15 minutes is 352 feet per minute - yikes!) that means a grass fire fueled by a high wind and dry grass CAN BURN AN AREA THE LENGTH OF A FOOTBALL FIELD IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. LESS. THAN. A. MINUTE. That's about SIX FEET PER SECOND. That is why George's tipi burned - only took a SECOND or two for that fire to jump the 8 feet or so to the canvas, even with him carefully watching and only 20 feet away. FIRE IS OUR FRIEND BUT IT IS A DANGEROUS BEDFELLOW...

At any rate, like I said, we had a great time otherwise. Enjoyed visiting with old friends and met a lot of new folks, including a trader named Lisa from Arkansas, the "Gypsy Potter". She has some great white-glazed pottery dishes and cups made from historical examples of the colonial era, some pretty green-glazed ware too, and she made some cool historically accurate pit-fired bowls and pipes from the Moundbuilder culture that were fine too. One Cherokee pipe had a squirrel on it, and another was a beaver (pipestem was his tail), and there was a frog with a rattle in his head too, and a stylized deer. Had some fun playing with clay with her, picked her brains for pit-firing advice, and look forward to seeing her at future events, now that she is doing this full-time. Had fun visiting with other traders that I knew, and seeing what wares they had.

The buffalo skinning demo on Sunday went well, provided meat for the meat-cooking contest which was served at the camp feed on Tuesday or Wednesday. Other parts were sold at auction to pay for the price of the buffalo. I scored some buffalo fat for tallow, and the pericardium (heart sack) to be dried and used for wrapping horsehair danglies under quills, and wrapping the red wool "firecracker"-looking trim at the top of ermine and horsehair danglies. Scored the buff's...er..."manhood" (pizzle) for John to make a walking cane out of, while Paul Jones got two new "ball bags" out of the deal. :-) I got to eat some fresh raw buffalo liver and fresh raw kidney, and it wasn't bad! Trust me, I HATE liver in any form, and if I say it wasn't bad, it wasn't bad!! One fellow was collecting various innards to make haggis (liver, kidneys, lungs, second stomach to cook in, etc.). He served the haggis at the camp feed, cooked with barley I think, and it was GOOD too! I know you don't believe me, but that's ok, your squeamishness means there will be more haggis for me next time!LOL There were a couple of young boys there watching the buffalo skinning, and someone suggested that the boys get a knife and cut off a piece of buffalo meat so they could tell their grandkids about it. So Bill Vannoy helped them pick out a good spot and showed them where to cut, and each boy "made meat" to take home to his mama to cook. Great experience for them.

Oh well, that's enough running on for one day. If you weren't there, you missed a good time! Better make up for it by coming to the SW in 2009, that Jan Kitlinger is booshwaying, located just north of Austin TX - here's the flyer:
http://www.woodenhawk.com/SWRR/
Flyer2009SWRR/tabid/102/Default.aspx

Contributed by Patsy "Magpie" Harper

March 6, 1836

Ballad of the Alamo

In the southern part of Texas, in the town of San Antone
There's a fortress all in ruins, that the weeds have overgrown
You may look in vain for crosses andÊ you'll never see a one
But sometimes between the setting and the rising of the sun
You can hear a ghostly bugle, as the men go marchin' by
You can hear them as they answer to the roll call in the sky

Colonel Travis, Davy Crocket, and a hundred eighty more
Captain Dickinson, Jim Bowie, present and accounted for

Back in eighteen thirty-six, Houston said to Travis
Get some volunteers and go, fortify the Alamo
Well, the men came from Texas and from ol' Tennessee
And they joined up with Travis, just to fight for the right to be free
Indian scouts with squirrel guns, men with muzzle loaders
Stood together heel and toe, to defend the Alamo

You may ne'er see your loved ones, Travis told them that day
Those who want to can leave now, those who'll fight to the death, let 'em stay

In the sand he drew a line, with his army saber
Out of a hundred and eighty-five, not a soul to cross the line
With his banners a dancin', in the dawn's golden light
Santa Anna came prancin', on a horse that was black as the night
Sent an officer to tell Travis to surrender
Travis answered with a shell, and a rousin' rebel yell

Santa Anna turned scarlet, play Deguello, he roared
I will show them no quarter, everyone will be put to the sword

One hundred and eighty-five holdin' back five thousand
Five days, six days, eight days, ten Travis held and held again
Then he sent for replacements for his wounded and lame
But the troops that were comin', never came, never came, never came

Twice he charged and blew recall, on the fatal third time
Santa Anna breached the wall, and he killed them one and all
Now the bugles are silent, and there's rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers, lie asleep in the arms of the Lord

In the southern part of Texas, near the town of San Antone
Like a statue on his pinto, rides a cowboy all alone
And he sees the cattle grazin', where a century before
Santa Anna's guns were blazin', and the cannon used to roar
And his eyes turn sorta misty as his heart begins to glow
And he takes his hat off slowly...to the men of Alamo

To the thirteen days of glory...at the siege of Alamo

Now the bugles are silent, and there's rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers, lie asleep in the arms of the Lord
Lie asleep...in the arms...of the Lord

By Marty Robbins


Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, [Santa Anna] hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Travis, among the first to die, fell on the north bastion. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks. There some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Bowie, too ravaged by illness to rise from his bed, found no pity. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had carried the works. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their summary execution. Many historians count Crockett as a member of that hapless contingent, an assertion that still provokes debate in some circles. By eight o'clock every Alamo fighting man lay dead. Currently, 189 defenders appear on the official list, but ongoing research may increase the final tally to as many as 257.

From - http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/AA/qea2.html