Smoke Gets in My Eyes

Fires kill thousands of people every year and untold millions (if not billions) of dollars in property damage. Although some forest fires are caused by from lightening strikes, many are the direct result of senseless, human acts. When our five children were young, we hired not one, but two baby-sitters to care for them in our home during the summer. It required two people to keep them out of trouble. One day, as we drove up to our home at the time (located in a nice residential neighborhood), we saw smoke billowing from the backyard.

Rushing through the door, my wife rushed past the two baby-sitters watching their soap operas, to the backyard where three of our boys were burning down the playhouse. Just last month, I could barely see the beautiful green hills because of smoke. My eyes were red and irritated and I was coughing off and on for days.

Every year in California, we experience some extreme dry weather. Everything is dry...the trees...the undergrowth, but yet some idiot will light a campfire or throw out a lit cigarette. We live at the top of a wooded hill surrounded by some inaccessible terrain filled with dry trees and undergrowth. Although I have taken great steps to clear the area around my home, I am constantly on edge about fires.

At this moment, thousands of acres are burning in California. A few thousand firefighters are risking their lives on the ground; aerial tankers are flying over our house. People have been evacuated from their homes to Red Cross shelters, filling their vehicles with beloved pets and precious family heirlooms. Many have horses and other livestock that must be relocated. The fire in Palm Springs was started by an arsonist.

During the fire in my area last month, I saw the medical results of this smoke-laden air. Children (and adults) experiencing exacerbations of their asthma, sore throats, runny noses, and red, irritated eyes. We can prescribe the medications needed to help control those symptoms, but other than staying in your home, closing the windows, and monitoring the news; there is really nothing that can be done about that smoke. Although smoke certainly causes respiratory difficulties, it is the threat of a fire that concerns me the most.

We have a neighbor (of sorts) that occasionally camps out on his vacant, wooded lot directly adjacent to our property. Over the weekend, this moron had another open fire. Not only did he have a campfire, but he had about a half-dozen torches (for light and mosquitoes) lighting up the wooded area.

Last year, he built a 48-square foot "weekend cabin" that reminds me of the one built by Ted Kaczynski - the now incarcerated Unibomber. We have told Ted (not his name, but this is what we call him) repeatedly NOT to have any open flames this time of year, but he exercises his right as a property owner to "have a campfire for cooking and warmth".

When he is there, the neighbors do not sleep as well. One of my neighbors predicted that someday he will burn down the hill. As a matter of fact, last winter (during the rainy season), he had a huge burn pile of downed trees and other debris that sent flames thirty feet into the air. He left that pile to burn and smolder, unattended, for a week.

This is why we are very concerned about his judgment, and his lack of consideration for his neighbors - those of us who actually live here; in real homes. Yes, smoke gets in my eyes, but it is these careless, selfish acts that really burn my butt! We called the Department of Forestry to check on the regulations, and they insisted on making a visit to him. He was not happy when the fire truck clamored up his dirt road.

On my thirty-minute commute to work every week, I often see burning or recently burned areas along the freeway, usually caused by a cigarette tossed from a car window. Since we only live a mile from the edge of this busy interstate highway, I wonder when a discarded cigarette or other careless act will destroy our home while we are at work? It would only take a few minutes for a life of memories to go up in flames.

Working in pediatrics, I see the first-hand the results of children and matches, from little finger burns that I treat in my office, to the serious, life-threatening burns that scar children and families for life.

My heart goes out to all of those families that are being evacuated at the moment, and to the brave firefighters who lost their lives yesterday and are risking their own lives to save others. Five years ago, hundreds of firefighters lost their lives when planes hit the Twin Towers. While our local fire does not compare in magnitude to this tragedy that shook the world, it still makes my eyes red and tearful. Maybe it is not just the smoke.

So today, take a few minutes and review WebMD's Fire Safety Measures. It could save your life.

Related Topics: First Aid and Emergencies, Inside an Arsonist's Mind

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