Firefighting Wasn't in the Job Description!

Late this afternoon I had just finished picking chicken off the bones and I opened the back door of the kitchen in the big house to dump the bones out for the dogs and there, creeping up the hill toward the buildings, was a line of fire. It wasn't very big, but in the few seconds that I watched and tried to think of a plan it started crawling alot faster. It has been so dry here and that steep slope is covered with bushes, trees, and lots of dry leaves. I ran back to our apartment and told Brian. The whole family came running. Alissa and I pulled the hose over from close to our building and Brian started spraying the flames with his thumb over the end to make the water shoot instead of dribble out because the nozzle was no where in sight. By then the fire was getting close to the house and a strong wind was kicking live embers onto the walls and roof. Jonathan and Rachel came waddling up with a five gallon bucket between them. They had run to the pila on the opposite side of the building and worked together to get the cover up and the bucket full. Very quickly we got the fire under control. We kept throwing buckets of water down the hillside and Brian kept up his "thumb spraying" until we were satisfied that everything was drenched and wouldn't flame up again.
How's that for a little excitement! The kids felt like heros and we were all glad that it was over. We think the neighbor lady accidently started the original fire burning her trash at the base of the hill. About the time we all got there with the hose, she came up with her own bucket and tried to help. All's well that ends well, I guess. We are thankful that it wasn't any worse. And if we look on the bright side...now Johnny won't have to hack down all those weeds with the machete!