Fire! Fire is cool



When I was about 12 or 13 I used to hang out with my mates in an area of woodland & heath.

We climbed trees, built rafts out of building materials to go boating on the river and made camps.

There was a rival group from the next housing estate which adjoined the opposite side of the greenspace who we were always in competition with.

We had a camp which we'd tunnelled under a large growth of gorse, waterproofed with plastic sheeting and fitted with stolen car seats from a local breakers yard. It had a cunningly concealed entrance and various listening posts so we could watch out for the other lot without being seen.

Unfortunately, one of our lot, who wasn't the brightest, didn't hide the entrance properly so the other kids discovered it. I went up to the camp and was furious to hear the other lot's voices coming from within. I was really pissed off as I'd done most of the building work so decided to exact my revenge.

Fuck knows what I thought I was playing at but I set light to a plastic container and flung it into the middle of the gorse. In a matter of moments a huge blaze had started. I could hear the other group of kids screaming and yelling and saw them burst from the undergrowth in all directions (luckily they all got out safely). I retreated behind the smokescreen and legged it for home.

It took several fire engines half the night to put out what had turned into several acres of heath and woodland which had burnt to the ground. In fact, I could see the glow on the hillside from my bedroom window. The breakers yard also was damaged and cattle and horses had to be brought to safety from neighbouring fields. It was all over the local news and, as we went off to view the aftermath the next day, we were stopped by the police. They had a description of some of the suspects and were trying to match it up to all us kids. Thankfully, I didn't fit the description so was sent on my way but, one of our lot did so got the third degree and a "We're watching you" warning despite having been nowhere near the fire in the first place.

So, David, I'm very sorry that you were nearly arrested for something you didn't do.

I never breathed a word to anyone about starting the fire as the whole area was badly damaged so all my peers were livid that some bastard had destroyed their playground.
(Fanta Menace Is tall enough to see over the fence, Sun 2 Sep 2007, 15:20, Reply)