MarkCermak
RIP
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 454
WildFire STOPPED by Carpet Cleaner and His TruckMount
Sherwood Park AB - Canada - The lack of moisture over the past two months has been noticeable, with dangerous bush fires spurring Strathcona County's fire ban. But one county resident recently took matters into his own hands, going the extra mile to prevent widespread fires.
In late April, many Strathcona County rural residents were chased from their homes for hours due to a bushfire that broke out, and local resident Darryl Kowalenko wasn't going to let that happen again.
At around 6 p.m. on May 17, Kowalenko, who owns EverReady Carpet Care, was driving home from work on Range Road 213 when he noticed smoke, parked cars, and a group of ladies screaming.
Kowalenko pulled over his carpet cleaning truck, which had 100 gallons of water in the tank, hooked up his pressure hose and "went to it."
He wasn't expecting to completely extinguish the spreading flame — he just wanted to suppress it and keep it under control until firefighters got there. But by the time 20 minutes had past, Kowalenko had managed to put the fire out.
He said he is positive that, had he not shown up and the residents had to wait for the fire department, the result could have been disastrous.
"With all the broken bushes we've got here and how dry it is, and with the tall poplars we've got, you would've had yourself a major fire," he said. "We would've needed more than the trucks they brought."
Kowalenko's neighbors, such as Bertha McLaughlin, are now calling him a hero.
McLaughlin thinks that it could have turned into a ravaging fire, such as the one that has been burning for days in Thorhild, causing a state of emergency to be declared, with more than 100 homes being evacuated and more than 200 firefighters on scene.
McLaughlin feels lucky that Kowalenko showed up when he did.
"It pays to have a carpet cleaner in the neighborhood," she said.
But Kowalenko laughed when he heard he was being referred to as a hero, thinking that what he did is something anybody should be willing to do.
"You love your neighbors as yourself, and you'll do well," he said. "If everybody treats each other like they should, then they'll do well."
While Kowalenko was able to extinguish the flame, Strathcona County Deputy Fire Chief Iain Bushell is hesitant to encourage residents to fight fire on their own.
"Brush fires can be deceptively dangerous; they can generate just as much heat as buildings on fire," Bushell said. "Certainly somebody in shorts and flip-flops is completely unprepared to be anywhere near heat and flames."
Last May's bush fires in northern Strathcona County are reported to have cost the county over $2 million.
Sherwood Park AB - Canada - The lack of moisture over the past two months has been noticeable, with dangerous bush fires spurring Strathcona County's fire ban. But one county resident recently took matters into his own hands, going the extra mile to prevent widespread fires.
In late April, many Strathcona County rural residents were chased from their homes for hours due to a bushfire that broke out, and local resident Darryl Kowalenko wasn't going to let that happen again.
At around 6 p.m. on May 17, Kowalenko, who owns EverReady Carpet Care, was driving home from work on Range Road 213 when he noticed smoke, parked cars, and a group of ladies screaming.
Kowalenko pulled over his carpet cleaning truck, which had 100 gallons of water in the tank, hooked up his pressure hose and "went to it."
He wasn't expecting to completely extinguish the spreading flame — he just wanted to suppress it and keep it under control until firefighters got there. But by the time 20 minutes had past, Kowalenko had managed to put the fire out.
He said he is positive that, had he not shown up and the residents had to wait for the fire department, the result could have been disastrous.
"With all the broken bushes we've got here and how dry it is, and with the tall poplars we've got, you would've had yourself a major fire," he said. "We would've needed more than the trucks they brought."
Kowalenko's neighbors, such as Bertha McLaughlin, are now calling him a hero.
McLaughlin thinks that it could have turned into a ravaging fire, such as the one that has been burning for days in Thorhild, causing a state of emergency to be declared, with more than 100 homes being evacuated and more than 200 firefighters on scene.
McLaughlin feels lucky that Kowalenko showed up when he did.
"It pays to have a carpet cleaner in the neighborhood," she said.
But Kowalenko laughed when he heard he was being referred to as a hero, thinking that what he did is something anybody should be willing to do.
"You love your neighbors as yourself, and you'll do well," he said. "If everybody treats each other like they should, then they'll do well."
While Kowalenko was able to extinguish the flame, Strathcona County Deputy Fire Chief Iain Bushell is hesitant to encourage residents to fight fire on their own.
"Brush fires can be deceptively dangerous; they can generate just as much heat as buildings on fire," Bushell said. "Certainly somebody in shorts and flip-flops is completely unprepared to be anywhere near heat and flames."
Last May's bush fires in northern Strathcona County are reported to have cost the county over $2 million.
