We were on our way home from the Quad Cities last weekend when we happened on a volunteer fire department responding to a fire. Turns out it was a bean field that was burning just outside of town. Since my son is all about firetrucks and firefighters we stopped to watch some of the action. Unfortunately, I only had my 28-135mm on my camera so had to make do.

Here's a wide shot, showing as much as I could get. I'm not sure what started it as it appeared to have multiple origins across the direction of the wind.
http://troybates.com/Events/field_fire_sep_2007/b63g9889_std.jpg

Here's a decent shot of one of the crews spraying water (don't know if they mix it with anything) from two small hoses. They had several water tankers filling up these smaller units. All the small trucks had two people riding on the front, or the back, with small hoses spraying the fires.
http://troybates.com/Events/field_fire_sep_2007/b63g9932_std.jpg

A shot of one of the small units topping off at the water truck. If you look really close, you can see the top of another water truck behind this one (it's yellow).
http://troybates.com/Events/field_fire_sep_2007/b63g9995_std.jpg

When we pulled up, the guy in the tractor was trying to put out a small fire by running over it with the tractor. Unfortunately it didn't work. His wife/girlfriend was sitting in the cab with him here. Before we left, he had gone somewhere and was coming back with a plow to try and plow some of the fire under. Don't know if it worked or not.
http://troybates.com/Events/field_fire_sep_2007/b63g9915_std.jpg

Very nice series. It pays to always be prepared with the camera, you never know when your going to across something like this. Good job documenting it..

Thanks OT. I just wish I had a longer lens that day. But...at least I had a camera and lens and was able to get something!

It definitely pays to have your camera with you! I've caught several things that others have missed because I had my camera with me. Good series buddy!

Thanks my friend. I think I'm going to see if Santa Claus might bring me a digital P&S so I can have a camera with me all the time. I've missed a lot of shots because I'm not carrying my backpack with me all the time.

Definetly light 'n easy to carry - and don't forget a few spare batteries !
Always tuck mine under the front seat of the car when were out 'n about.
Like the ole Boy Scout motto sez:
. . . Be prepared ! :thumbsup:

I tried carrying my backpack with me all the time, but I don't want to leave it in the car (high temps/theft/all that fun stuff). So a P&S looks like the route to go.

Yup, gotta like that Boy Scout motto!!

I hope there wasn't too much crop lost. Seeing that brings memories from when I was 16 in Hawaii. There was this huge area behind our house that was all brush, and I'm talking huge area. Well.. it was a dry yr and a fire started. There were helicopters dropping water for like a week... but it kept getting closer and closer to our housing area (military housing) and I was so afraid we were gonna have to evacuate! Luckily they got it out before it reached the fence, but it was close!

Hey Amber,

It appeared that they had already harvested the beans. There were actually several distinct areas of fire, I'm not sure what started them because they were almost perpendicular to the prevailing wind which was relatively strong that day.

This area has lost a lot of crops but those were due to high winds.