Dead Out

time and they'll double the RAM that's very new bridges Elvis on as a whip man's got a right to be proud of a girl like Betty Lou well that was the McDonald family one evening not long ago but there's one thing that has no regard for all the time and effort a man may put into his all in his land [Music] but fryer did more than destroy the Gauls property it hurt his loved ones in town the McDowell fired caused quite a shock folks couldn't figure out how something like that could happen to a careful man like Ridge McDowell what started that fire a few days later I decided to find out for myself the McDonald that moved in with ridges cousin Luke similar I was lucky to find Ridge alone but a minute I went in I was sorry I come he offered me a chair then I asked him how his little girl and betty-lou well she's all right I guess but her hand you know I've been burning brush for years and I never had no trouble got any idea what happened rich funny one day you got a hole that feel timber huge the next well the neck I got out of there as fast as I could that wasn't the time to get rich to talk brushfires I have seen the good many of them get out of hand all through these woods of our folks seldom knew how they started but when you look back fit the pieces together more often than not you could put your finger on it I recollect a couple years ago well you wouldn't think that this track 250 acre timber could be traced back to such a simple thing a watched pot fight but that's what happened all because time trouble wasn't taken break around the coals of that posh pot fire before leaving [Music] just a little old wash pot fire take many Maori he figured by burning a strip of gray around his cotton field he'd read his cell from pole weevil he didn't bother to build a file well Larry did get rid of his grass and he got rid of his woods his neighbors too the only thing he didn't get rid of was the boll weevil still snug and safe in the cotton patch Wilson Bailey and the reputation of being the most prick nerd off man in the county and not without reason Halley wanted to clear off a piece of new ground but all through winter he kept putting it off December January February March [Music] if we'll then Wilson Bailey decided to burn [Music] is Harborne good and with no fire line burned even better well Wilson Bailey failed to provide a fire line nature did the river wildfires you can place them back to a number of causes but most frequents the weather I recollect Tom Mason he practiced all the rules about caution against fire he had a right big farm kind of a showplace in his County took a lot of pride in keeping it up his land buttered on to that of Charlie stone been good neighbors for 20 years [Music] Mason had a patch a rundown land the aim to plant Pines with the valuable help of his little boy what [Music] one day Charlie Stone decided to burn a ditch Bank figured the weather was right but the wind doesn't sound an alarm before it switches around and fire has no regard for man's boundary lines [Music] too bad on that date Tom Mason was in town left his wife and boy alone on the farm [Music] [Applause] it got away from me [Music] yep Tom Mason practiced all the rules about caution against fires [Music] wherever it is a fire as always a cause and the mcdowell fire was no exception I had heard McDowell had gone back to his land spring planting black bugs were still buzzing around in my mind wouldn't let go what started that fire hard work was doing rich good he looked more like his old self talkative too and time I steered him around to the day of the fire you know I I still think about that keeps going over my mind every step I took that day suppose suppose you tell me about it red well they not much to tell a couple of days before I was fixing to burn a field of sedge grass I recollect it was a quiet day no wind pika I had Sam Lewis plough a good wide fire line around that field it's a pretty big field you know so I had Sam flour an extra line down the middle then burned it off against the wind that night I recollected Wayne so the next day I figured was a good time to burn the brush in the morning I found a fire line in the afternoon Jim Gibson he come over to give me a hand we burned them all stop no trouble at all and he stopped just for suppertime lucky we did those a wind came up I recollect feeling mighty good that he was true with the burner [Music] it was then that Betty Lou came down from the house to meet me like she always does when I commend from the feet well that was McDowell story but I knew him what had happened in Vernon brush safely picking the right weathers about the most important thing Vern early in the wet season long before spring pawn time Wow a good wide fire line around the field 3m offers wide are the better and build small piles they are safer because they don't get as hot as the big ones [Music] time to burn is after a good rain when the ground is damp and the wind quiet before you burn let the Ranger or Fire Warden go and tell your neighbors then get them to give you a hand they'll have the tools just in case an axe often rake slaughter shovel and of course water [Music] learn when the Sun begins to go down new dam even comes on less chance for a fire to get away running against the wind means a slower fire staying with a pile before light in the next is insurance that a fire won't get out of hand eat a fire gradually it'll be easier to control and double insurance against wildfire is a good wide filer last comes mopping up policing up the area and making sure your fires out and that's where Ridge McDowell made his mistake every step right but the last not taken time to make a thorough check before he left that even a gale that come up since drops into the grass jump to file on into the woods then to his house what he should have done was finished the job a man can never be too soon with a fire that's not dead out means danger to his loved ones and his property in the last 20 years thousands of acres of timber have made possible renew and figures industry for the south Pope would draw kinds of products the whole country needs lumber for build enough for home and our industry that'll mean a prosperous and growing south of all of us to enjoy but there are hundreds of well-meaning folks like Wilson Bailey like Manning Lowery Charlie Strong and many a home like with McDonnell last year over 5,500 forest fires in the south of caused by brush fires alone a loss of over 25 million dollars money out of all of our pockets loss of thousands of jobs for Memphis not to mention the loss of young growth seedlings that someday might have contributed to the strength of the south these are our woods would brought children and their children to work to live in enjoy timber that is tied up for the economic growth of South timber that tells us that we're moving on with building tourist congra and better future [Music] yet a timber Cruiser gets wrong I've worked these woods of ours I guess a good many years and you know that kind of night let's keep [Music]