A Reflection from Fr. Brian:
(continued from May 27th)
As the wall of flame, in some places over a 100 feet high, raced down the hill from the cross, we watched as the flames and smoke engulfed the land around our three buildings. The fire continued past our property, into the next property and further up the valley. As it did, we hopped in the car and raced down the mountain to see what damage had been done to our property since the smoke from the fire blocked us from seeing just how much damage had been done.
As we approached the dirt road that led to our property, there were fire trucks coming out and heading up the valley to try and save other homes. We stopped to ask them the situation on our property. They said that the fire was still burning in some spots on our property but that our buildings were safe. What a relief! They allowed us to return since we were part of the Congregation who owned the property.
As we drove up the dirt road we saw flames in a couple of the fields surrounding the dwellings. So, when we returned to the main house, the caretaker and I grabbed some shovels and went down into the fields to see if we could put out some of the flames. We went up to the flames and began to shovel dirt onto the flames, trying to smother as much of the line of flames as we could. We did this for some time before a nearby rancher drove up with his tractor and dragging a flat piece of metal behind him. He said he would run the metal piece over the flames and it should put it out. Whew! We thanked him and headed to the other side of the property, where we saw some flames in our neighbor’s property. We noticed flames coming up out of our dump where we put our refuse as we headed over to our neighbor’s property.
(to be continued tomorrow)
Blessings, pono & pule!
Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai