It is safe to say that they people of the people of Westlock dodged a bullet this week, thanks to a quick response from area firefighters in combating a tire fire at the east end of town.
The blaze started last Tuesday in the late afternoon, and billowed thick black smoke for several hours before it was brought under control.
It could just as easily have spread and threatened the whole town. With the memory of the devastation in Slave Lake still fresh in our collective memory, we should all breathe a sigh of relief.
Fire, of course, is a fascination as old as humanity itself. From the dying embers of a small campfire to the blazing infernos that claims hectares upon hectares of forest every year, it is undeniable that humans are entranced with fire. This curiosity, however, must be tempered with caution and respect. Great strides are made to ensure everyone knows of the terrible devastation caused by an out-of-control fire, yet still we see people quite literally playing with it.
A trip out to a campground on any given summer weekend will almost certainly reveal one or two campfires that are clearly too big, or a smaller campfire left unattended as people go to sleep for the night, or even some smartass trying to see how flammable that mosquito repellent is.
Educational programs fill our schools, warnings fill our newspapers and television screens, and every now and again, smoke fills the sky. Yet, even if 99 per cent of people heed these lessons, all it takes is one careless moment. In this case, we are told the culprits are two young children who were playing with a lighter. There are few among us who haven’t at one point used a small disposable lighter; that tiny flame seems like such a small concern, just another example of a tool we have harnessed for our mutual benefit.
In the wrong hands, however, the tiny flame can become the inferno that belched clouds of black smoke into the sky last week.
It is safe to assume the children who started the fire had no intention of letting things get out of control, and their parents had no intention of letting them get their hands on what could have been a deadly device.
But it happened, and it’s up to all of us to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
