Personal Voice

I was in a major wreck this week. That will be a story for another day when all the details are finally sorted out. However, as I was sitting on the side of the road, waiting for the medics to take care of those with the worst injuries, some firemen came and started to check on me. They made a preliminary determination to see if my thinking was at least somewhat clear and to ensure that I didn’t have a concussion. When they felt there was no immediate danger to my life, they started the process of trying to remove shards of glass from my arms, face, and neck.

While they worked, our conversation turned to the various calls they had gone on. They mentioned interesting things they had come across as part of their job. It is one of these stories that I will tell here.

One fireman said that they had a call to a fire at a small hobby farm. When they arrived, they found that the pig shed was on fire. It was wintertime, and the fire had been started by a heat lamp that was in the shed to keep the new piglets warm.

There was a frenzy of animals running in fear of the fire. The big pigs and other grown animals had mostly packed themselves in the barn or corrals as far from the fire as possible. But the small piglets, being younger and less experienced, were running to the fire, then away, then back again. Trying to get close enough to put out the fire with piglets underfoot was difficult and dangerous.

Trying to get to the fire from the other pens that housed some frightened, larger, and possibly more dangerous animals was not a good idea. They realized that to fight the fire, they needed to open the gates and herd the animals out into the open area away from the barns.

That worked well for the older animals, whose primary goal was to get away from the fire, but they found that approaching the fire from the side of the big animals wasn’t sufficient. The firemen realized that to absolutely guarantee the fire was out, they would have to do it from the piglets’ pen. They tried to move the piglets out of the pen, but wherever they attempted to herd the piglets was where the piglets were sure they didn’t want to go, especially in their hyper, panicked state.

Finally, some of the men worked to get to the fire while others captured the squealing baby pigs and carried them out of the pen. But the pen was the only home they knew, so the instant they were released, they dashed back to it. Eventually, the firemen had to carry them to where they could be corralled away from the fire without any access back to their original pen.

After the fire was out, the firemen stirred and soaked the straw and other materials all around to ensure all embers were extinguished. The surrounding area was somewhat of a muddy mess, but the animals were all safe. The animals meant a lot to the family, and they thanked the firemen profusely for saving them.

The next day, the firemen were discussing their unique assignment, trying to save the animals and put out the fire. They were still visiting when the family that owned the small farm arrived. They had some goodies to thank the firemen.