The Bucket Brigade
Remembering a long time ago
It was part of life....that farm fire would destroy the barn, the cow, our lives
unless neighbours pitched in. April 26, 2001.
It was late March, round about 1937 ... My sister, Ruhame, and I were
by the window watching Daddy plow the little garden spot just beyond the
yard. Ole Kate was dutifully obeying his "gees" and "haws" as the moist
earth fell over the sides of the plow. We were recovering from the
measles and had not been outside to play for weeks. We were dying to get
our toes wiggling in the freshly plowed earth. But Mama said, "No, not
quite warm enough yet."
We were still by the window when we saw Daddy suddenly stop plowing,
wrap the reins around the plow handles, and break into a run towards the
house. In a second he was in the back door yelling, "Everybody, grab a
water bucket and get out! The house is on fire!" With young'ens
scampering and water buckets clanking we all rushed outside. A bucket
brigade was already assembling in the front yard. A neighbor from about a
half mile up the road had detected an unusual amount of smoke coming from
the direction of our house. After mustering all the neighbors and water
buckets he could he rushed to the scene. My big brother, Vaughn, quickly
put the ladder up to the side of the house and stationed three of men on
the roof, and about that many at different levels on the ladder, while the
women and children formed a line within arms length of each other from the
foot of the ladder to the stream directly across the road. Buckets of
water were hurriedly passed along the line from the stream to the men on
the ladder, onto the roof, and dashed on the fire with empty buckets making
it back along the line to be refilled. This continued until the fire was
out. The fire was out in a short time with only minimum damage to the roof.
With the days getting warmer, sometimes the fire was neglected and
would die down in the stove to only embers before anyone realized that the
house was getting cold and thought to tend the fire. That is what happened
that day and whoever started the fire back up filled the stove with very
dry tinder which caught quickly and sent live sparks flying out the flu
and with the help of the gusty March wind ignited the dry wood shingles.
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