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Siarnaq & The Fire3/19/2023 Another friend of mine (not a friend by any means now), Siarnaq (m) lived over on 4th Street. I had sleepovers at his house many times and his other sister, Carme (f) was hot. I think Carme and her friend Eos (f) were two of the first girls, classmates of mine, that I found physically attractive. I would have gladly dated either of them, but both of them were dating boys older than me, seniors by the time I was in high school.
Siarnaq was a bit of a trouble maker, and together one time we decided to play with matches back in the third section of the high school bush. It started out as good fun, we got the matches from the change tray in his mom's car, and headed back to our fort. We had a few scraps of discarded furniture from the high school. We found it in the back woods and collected it into a sort of livingroom space. We had a cupboard one with the old wood countertop, and old chair for us to sit on. We started the fire and managed to keep it under control. At one point I took some of the charred pieces of foam and placed it over on the wood counter. I found out later this would be a big mistake. It turned out that the foam was still on fire, and while we were focused on burning paper scraps along with twigs and leaves, the flame ignited the wood countertop. The cupboard underneath, likely from an old science class, tipped over spilling the burning foam and wood onto the ground. We tried to put out the fire with some wet plastic sheeting we had - mental note after - wet plastic sheets still burn. The fire quickly got out of control and while I continued to try and put it out Siarnaq ran for help. A nearby tree caught on fire and I knew I was out of my depth. So I ran, across an old exhibition field to a trailer park by the river. Half way across the field I could feel a sharp pain on top of my head and I ended up burning my hand extinguishing my burning hair. When I got to the trailer park I found a few people sitting on lawn chairs in the back yard of one of the first trailers I approached. I was panicking and barely communicated to them about the fire in the forest. We stood there for a moment and the woman exclaimed that she could see it. She was right, not just the smoke, but now flames were visible from the fire about five metres off the ground, flickering up the trunk of a taller tree next to the one I had abandoned. They called the fire department and I think a couple of the men went over as well to try and put out the fire. I was taken to the hospital where I was treated for minor burns to my scalp and hands - they wrapped my hands in salve and gauze. My friend, who ran for help first, missed the obvious adults sitting at the trailer I had found and ran to another trailer pounding on their door - they answered. It turned out to be the home of one of the local police deputies (whatever the equivalent was then). I think he later to came to my home to interview me, or it was the Chief, either way I confessed to our playing with matches. They managed to extinguish the fire fairly quickly, one tree was burned up the trunk and the leaves and branches, another tree part way up the trunk, various scraps of wood, plastic and foam debris plus a five metre square of dirt smoldered for at least a day or so. I remember we were grounded from hanging out with each other for at least 2-3 months, though we did talk at a ball game about a week after the incident. I found out that he had lied to the police - that I had brought the matches (which he got from his mom's car). I can't remember how much we hung out after that. A couple classmates called me 'firebug' for a while. He and his family ended up moving away within a couple years later. It took me several years to recover. It was five years before I could hold a match long enough to burn a candle and seven years before I could reach into a hot oven. I remember grade 9 or 10 science class I was too afraid to even light the Bunsen burner for experiments, and, with hushed breath, had to explain why. While I eventually got over my fear of fire, I could recall the injury to my head for many years. I can still touch the spot on my scalp and think I feel burnt hair sometimes to this day. I told ChatGPT this story, and here is what it said in response: "Wow, that sounds like a very scary and dangerous situation. It's fortunate that you were not seriously hurt, and that the fire was put out before it caused more damage. It's also good that you learned from the experience and were able to overcome your fear of fire over time. It's important to remember the potential consequences of playing with fire and to always be careful around it. Have you ever talked to Siarnaq about the incident and how it affected you? It might be helpful to address any lingering feelings or concerns you have about it."
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