The Ever-Growing Brush Fire

By Page Dominic H.
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“The leaves! They’re burning!” John said as he fled from the ever-growing brush fire that seemed to cover the earth.

It was an afternoon in November 2019 in Alice Springs, Australia. John was walking on his usual pathway for his walk when he began to smell burnt leaves. John thought nothing of it, bush fires happened frequently in the area, and he carried on with his walk. A few hours later, he saw something in the distance; it looked like a wall of fire was hastily approaching. Without hesitation, John ran away from the fire and alerted the fire department. However, he was not receiving a signal on his phone, so he did the only thing he knew how to do, run home. Little did he know that a gush of wind was pushing the wall of fire towards him and making the fire grow and grow.

After John had run for about five minutes, he looked back to see his progress. But it seemed he had not moved at all. John knew that he had no chance of outrunning the wall of fire, so he did the only thing that came to mind. Dig a hole and wait for the fire to pass over him. Luckily, John always carried a shovel in his back pocket, just in case. As he frantically dug into the dirt, the wall of fire got closer and closer. As if by some miracle, John was able to cover himself in the dirt just before the wall of fire could reach him. John waited about ten minutes until he was positive the fire had passed over him.

As he moved the dirt off his body, he felt his skin burn and he saw that his clothes were on fire. John exclaimed, “The leaves! They’re burning!”

He threw the leaves off his body and jumped out of the hole he had dug. John looked around and saw that the landscape was scorched by the fire. He could still see some bushes that had remained firmly attached to the ground but were burning into ash. When John had finished marveling at the damage, he saw in the sky a helicopter that was putting out the fire.

​Since the wind had died down, the wall of fire seemed more like a two-foot barrier. However, the fire was still kilometers long, so it was far from being fully put out. John tried to get the helicopter's attention to get a free ride home, but the pilot did not notice him. John sighed, and prepared for the long walk home. When John arrived at his house back in Alice Springs, he brushed the soot and ash off his body and clothes. He ate dinner, brushed his teeth and flossed, took a shower to wash off the remaining soot and ash, and went to bed. As he drifted to sleep, he realized how deadly a simple batch of burning leaves could be.

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