In 1993, my wife & I bought a house that was fixing to go into foreclosure. The people who were losing the house decided that if they couldn't keep it, then whoever got it was going to have to make a LOT of repairs. They kicked holes in the walls, busted the toilets & sinks, took the fixtures, etc.. They also left a bunch of torn up wood furniture. We hauled off the recycle-ables and hazardous stuff, but piled the wood debris in the center of the back yard for a bonfire at the "House warming" party we were going to have. Beforehand, I cantacted the fire department up the road to see if I needed a permit to burn. When they said no, I told them what day and address we were going to have the party at in case we needed their help.
I kept pulling wood out of the house, broken closet doors, messed up book shelves, a big wine rack, ladderback chairs that had the seat kicked through, cabinet doors that had been ripped from their hinges,and on & on. By the time of the party, the pile was pretty big. I had a neighbor bring his tractor and harrow up a ring around the fire pile so none would get away. I also mowed the grass close and raked the dead grass away to cut down on the possibility of the fire running away.
We had a bunch of chairs and benches and lots of adult beverages for the party. Being a closet pyro, I made a fuse to the fire pile with a pound of black powder and put some white gas in the center of the pile... The fuse burning up to the pile was awesome. The flames hit the gas and the center of the pile caught in a hurry. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have put the gas on one side of the pile and let it burn across. Instead, the entire pile became engulfed in flame and flames were leaping about 60 feet in the air. Our guests were getting nervous and some thought the propane tank on the other end of the house might blow up. As the flames and sparks were rising with the heat, they cleared the tops of the trees behind the house. People who lived on the next road over could see some of the flames and sparks and thought there was a grass fire in the big field about a half-mile from the house. We could hear the sirens coming up the main road, running past our road. Then, we heard the sirens coming back down the road and making a right towards the other big field. By now, most of the fuel had burnt off the fire because the wood was so dry. By the time the fire department showed up the fire was less than 3 feet high and everyone was standing around it drinking and singing. I offered the firefighters a beer (they were on duty and couldn't drink) and asked them why nobody at their station has posted the fact that I was going to be having a party with a bonfire on that date. The look in the firefighter's face was priceless.
Jim
