Watching Bigfork Fire inspires confidence
Letter from the editor
As an Eagle Scout, I know a few things about fire. In fact, for a long time I was fairly convinced that the Boy Scouts were little more than an arsonist's training camp.
Of course, in the South there was little concern about setting the forest alight, but I have seen things done with fire that were severely inadvisable. We doused picnic tables in bug spray and lit them, piled up old Christmas trees and lit them, soaked toilet paper in diesel and put the rolls in coffee cans and lit them.
It is, then, not surprising to learn that I was excited to get to watch the Bigfork Fire Department purposely burn down a house on Saturday morning. After watching — and feeling — that particular display, you may consider me humbled.
The heat from the fire was staggering. At 50 feet it felt like my eyebrows were being singed off. At 20 it was hardly bearable to keep my eyes looking through the camera lens. Besides that, the intensity of the flames was both hypnotic and terrifying. Watching them tear through an empty, gutted home was one thing. I can't imagine the feelings that a family must have if it's their house being ravaged.
With that said, it was hard not to be impressed by the Bigfork firefighters. Though their mission for the day was to let the home burn, there was never a moment when the situation felt out of control or potentially dangerous. And that's saying something when flames are shooting out the second story roof. Beyond the people involved, it was clear that the department's equipment is as good as it gets. I'll admit having a few reservations about the purchase of the new ladder truck, thinking it was a bit overkill. Those doubts are gone after seeing the incredible amount of water it can dump right on top of a blaze. It gives the department a level of control on a situation that I would certainly want if it were my house.
New site, new features
As I hope you saw in today's paper, the Eagle has launched a new Web site. We think it's pretty sharp and we hope you'll agree.
Aside from another way to check out the paper, www.bigforkeagle.com boasts some new features that add a lot to what we can give the community. Among these are multimedia slideshows, a comprehensive business directory and a much-improved navigation scheme that puts more information at your finger tips. So head over and give us a look and let us know what you think. We value reader feedback and want to hear how we can improve.
—Alex Strickland