Apparently the Old Manse's garden had some thing of a close shave last Saturday when a fire in Mr R's yard next door got of control. The blaze which seem to have started from a simple bonfire lit for some reason in the teeth of a very strong westerly wind damaged trailers and other items in the yard and was heading towards our garden shed, green house and newly planted hedge in the south westerly corner of the garden. After some delay Duns' finest-the Fire Brigade brought the conflagration under control.It is still simmering 36 hours later-possibly kept going by having some other material added to the heart of the fire yesterday. (Might as well take advantage of it....what) Our nearest neighbours were forced to evacuate their cottages because of the black smoke and acrid fumes (Tyres I suspect). Reports indicate that the flames were confined to the yard side of the stone wall but some of our trees in the new hedge are likely to be singed and then apple trees may now be dripping with roasted fruit! Fortunately we had picked most of a monster crop before our departure to Norn Iron.
I wonder if the police had something to say about bonfires and strong winds.Will the Dinger Brigade submit a bill? A couple of years ago we had a smaller fire next door from burning tyres and that was unpleasant enough.
No photos. In the absence of Huttonian nobody thought to pull out a camera. Pity. I'll have to see if I can find appropriate images on Flickr to illustrate what might have been
