Firefighters in Scotland don’t have the opportunity to fight many vegetation fires, but on Wednesday, 27 firefighters near the city of Inverness battled strong winds as they dealt with a fire burning in gorse, a shrubby plant not unlike chaparral. The wind pushed the fire, making it a mile and a quarter long with 30-foot flames.
An article about the fire in the Inverness Courier is interesting, seeing how wildland fire is perceived, fought, and reported in a different part of the world. Some of the terms in the story that are not commonly used in the United States include soot, appliances, conservatory, Constabulary, heath, and heather. One resident “had soot all over my conservatory”.
My father-in-law passed on a note: In Scotland, they say that Lassie couldn’t find a golf ball wrapped in bacon in that stuff.
Next time I’m on a pocosin fire, I’ll think to myself- “It could be worse- we could be fighting fire in gorse!”