Sometime back, a neighborhood dog (whose owner is not taking care of her), came and tore up about 3 bags of trash in my yard. She is a nice dog, but starved, so she was looking for food the best way she knew how. I had seen the garbage strewn all over the yard, but didn't see her at first. When I opened my back door to let air through the house on the first dry day in some time, she started barking at me. Or, I thought it was at me. She was chasing my cat. I had to run her off. She had eaten, and she was terrorizing my cat. Sorry, not on my property does a strange dog assault my cat.
That said, I was left with quite a mess to clean up. We've been having a very cold snap here in South Mississippi, along with wetness on the days it wasn't as cold. Those conditions don't make it feasible to go outside and clean up the yard. In waiting for a pleasant day, I've been having a massive cleaning out inside the house, putting stuff on ebay or in the trash. Monday, we got a break in the weather, so I went outside to burn some boxes and clean up the strewn trash. Oops...
My first mistake: not checking my water hose. It had been run over by a lawnmower by the man my mom hires to mow our yards. *My mom owns the property I live on, and she lives next door* Second mistake: not breaking off some pine limbs to beat out any grass fire that might get out. And get out, it did. I freaked. At one point, JD and I were surrounded by fire. Not to mention, we have Cogon Grass. Evil, evil stuff. This is what happens when a Cogon Grass wildfire breaks out. It goes. Hot and fast. I managed to get back to my phone and call my mom and 911. She drove up with my cousin and he kept it from getting under the trailer (it was just inches away, in much shorter grass.) and the fire department got there in time to put out the burning Cogon Grass. We spent some time with them putting out the bulk of it, and me helping to keep an eye out for hotspots flaring back up.
Sadly, there had been a pop up tent (10x10 canopy type) with some items under it that had been in a vehicle we sold. The "stuff" is no longer there, but JD and I came out with our lives and our home still intact.
I've been quite shaken up over the experience, but accidents happen, and I learned valuable lessons about being careful and better prepared. Needless to say, I won't be burning anything anytime soon. Unless it's in a 55 gallon drum with a waterhose nearby!
There are some positive things about cogon grass. It makes beautiful woven items in the right hands. But, it's not native to this area, and it goes crazy when fire is added.
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