Volunteer Firefighters

So we're riding along Ovenell Road, just past Fredonia, WA, and I've got a one-track mind, namely "When's lunch?".  Paul C has made a goal of getting past Interstate-5 before we can even look for lunch and at a few minutes before 1:00, my stomach is growling.  So when we roll toward a plume of smoke at a private residence just off of the road, I'm not thinking of saving the world, let alone somebody's back yard.  "Heh, that fire is on the loose", says Paul C., "We've got to stop and put it out!"  Another couple in a van has stopped and they yell out, "We've called 911 - the fire truck is on the way."  "We don't have time for that.", yells Paul C.  "We need to find a hose and douse it!"  So he proceeds to find a hose, hooks it up to a faucet and starts spraying the flames, which have burned quite a bit of the yard and are lapping up against a greenhouse.  Fortunately the flames haven't spread too far and the fire is mostly under control in five minutes, but had we not arrived and done something, it could have spread to the man's house and his outbuildings.  Shortly thereafter the fire truck arrived and they stepped in to clean things up and we were back on our way, just as the homeowner rolled in to the driveway and sheepishly admitted that he'd left his burn-pile unattended.