DEAD OUT

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] h you know a Timber Cruiser gets around these Southern Woods of ours I've worked them up and down a good many years from Virginia all the way to Texas public private forests and just plain Woods it's a lonely trade but it gives a man time to think and learn not just about Woods people too up in the Mountain Country about folks who live [Music] there in the rolling lands about folks who make their living out of the woods down in the Flatwoods with the crews working the Serpentine [Music] tree and the bottom lands with their Hardwoods cruising always on the Move I've come to know our country pretty well our towns and people their way of life they have farms and homes then sometimes what used to be a [Music] home this was the farm of Ridge McDow Ridge started with a m f a bag of seed and well not much else built his farm up to 80 acres cotton and corn and the rest in pole siiz Timber he was a hard worker maybe it's account of his wife Mary in town they only good things to say about the mcdows they're a comer give them time and they'll double their land that's Betty Lou brid's eldest smart as a whip a man's got a right to be proud of a girl like Betty [Music] Lou well that was the McDonald family one evening not long ago but there's one thing that has no regard for all all the time and effort a man may put into his home and his land [Music] but fire did more than destroy McD's property it hurt his loved ones in town the McDon fired caused quite a shock folks couldn't figure it out how something like that could happen to a careful man like Ridge mcdal what started that fire a few days later I decided to find out for myself the McDonald's had moved in with ridge's cousin Luke [Music] Simmons I was lucky to find Ridge alone but the minute I went in I was sorry I'd come he offered me a chair then I asked him how his little girl was Betty L well she's all right I guess but her hands you know I've been burning brush for years and I never had no trouble got any idea what happened Ridge funny one day you got a home you got Fields Timber a future the next well the next I got out of there as fast as I could that wasn't the time to get Ridge to talk brush fires I've seen a good many of them get out of hand all through these Woods of ours folks seldom knew how they started but when you look back fit the pieces together more often than not you could put your finger on it I recollect a couple of years ago well you wouldn't think that this tra 250 Acres of burnt out Timber could be traced back to such a simple thing a wash pot fire but that's what [Music] happened all because time and trouble wasn't takeen to rake around the coals of that wash pot fire before [Music] leaving huh just a little old wash pot fire take Manning Lowry he figured by burning a strip of grass around his cotton field he' rid himself a bowl weavil he didn't bother to build a fire line well Lowry did get rid of his grass and he got rid of his Woods his neighbors too the only thing he didn't get rid of was the bowl Weaver still snug and safe in The Cotton Patch where wherever there's a fire there's always a cause and the McDow fire was no exception I'd heard McDow had gone back to his land spring planting that bug was still buzzing around in my mind wouldn't let go what started that fire hard work was doing Ridge good he looked more like his old self talkative too in time I Steed him around to the day of the fire you know I I still think about that keeps going over my mind every step I took that day suppose suppose you tell me about it Ridge well there's not much to tell a couple of days before I was fixing to burn a field of sedge grass I recollect it was a quiet day no wind to speak [Music] of I had Sam Lewis plow a good wide fire line around that field it's a pretty big field you know so I had Sam plow an extra line down the middle then burned it off Against The Wind that night I recollected rain so the next day I figured was a good time to burn my brush in the morning I plowed my fire line in the afternoon Jim Gibson he come over to give me a hand we burned him off without no trouble at all finished up just for supper Time Lucky we did because a wind came up I recollect feeling mighty good that we were through with the burner it was then that Betty Lou came down from the house to meet me like she always does when I come in from the [Music] field well that was mcdow's story but I knew then what had happened in burning brush safely picking the right weathers about the most important thing burn early in the wet season long before spring plowing time plow a good wide fire line around the field three or more fur The Wider the better then build small piles they're safer because they don't get as hot as the big ones time to burn is after a good rain when the ground is damp and the wind quiet before you burn let the ranger or fire Warden know and tell your neighbors then get them to give you a hand they'll have the tools just in case an axe fork and rake swatter shovel and of course water [Music] burn when the sun begins to go down and the cool damp evening comes on less chance for a fire to get [Music] away burning Against the Wind means a slower fire staying with the pile before lighten the next is insurance that a fire won't get out of hand feed a fire gradually it'll be easier to control and double insurance against Wildfire is a good wide fire line last comes mopping up policing up the area and making sure your Fire's out and that's where Ridge McDow made his mistake every step right but the last not taking time to make a thorough check before he left that evening a gale had come up sent Sparks into the grass jumped to fire line into the woods then to his house what he should have done was finished the job a man can never be too sure for a fire that's not dead Out means danger to his loved ones and his property in the land last 20 years thousands of Acres of Timber have made possible a new and vigorous industry for the South pulpwood for all kinds of products the whole country needs lumber for building up our homes and our industri that'll mean a prosperous and growing South for all of us to enjoy but there are hundreds of well-meaning folks like Wilson Bailey like Manning Lowry Charlie Stone and many a home like Ridge McDonald's last year over 5,500 forest fires in the South were caused by brush fires alone a loss of over $25 million money out of all of our pockets loss of thousands of jobs for our men folks not to mention the loss of young growth seedlings at someday might have contributed to the strength of the South these are our Woods Woods for our children and their children to work in to live in enjoy Timber that is tied up with the economic growth of the South Timber that tells us that we're moving onward building toward a stronger and better future yep a Timber Cruiser gets around I've worked these Woods of ours I guess a good many years and you know they're kind of nice let's keep them that way huh [Music]