Knuckleheads, Lumens, Firetrucks, Hookers and Fire

ScottB

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Messages
56
Location
SoCal
Just kidding about the hookers. :D

My home is on top of a 200 ft desert butte with a small town on one side and open desert on the other.

Last night I took a look down the hill on the desert side and there were some teenagers with a small fire burning at the base of my hill with nothing but extremely dry/dead brush between them and my house.

Concerned that I might be accidently burned out of my home I decided to introduce them to my Sam's Club 35W HID. They were about 1200 feet away and I lit them up like daytime for 3 minutes and shut it down. Usually folks just leave when illuminated like this but these knuckleheads started shouting obscenities and built their fire up some more.

So I did something I have never done before. I called 911.

About a minute later 2 fire trucks pulled up on the road above these guys but could not locate them because they were down in a small canyon next to my creek.

I cranked up the HID again and shined it first at one of the firetrucks and then down on the knuckleheads who were still unaware of the fire trucks and were still hollering. The fire trucks drove down the dirt road and followed my beam and just appeared right above these guys about 30 feet away from them. The knuckleheads scattered and I followed them for aways with the HID while they ran in panic and shock hehe.

The firemen jumped out and put out the fire with a shovel. They gave me a double flash with their spotlight when they were leaving and I give them a quick shot with the HID (the HID was insanely brighter than the firetruck spotlight lol).

I'm still laughing about it 24 hours later. :D
 

CLHC

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Messages
6,001
Location
PNW|WA|USA
Great experience here and thanks for sharing! Hopefully these "knuckleheads" don't come back and do something stupid all the more.

Enjoy!
 

ScottB

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Messages
56
Location
SoCal
Thanks.

Reading this forum I've got to wonder if I can do better than my Sam's Club HID. There seems to be a huge step up in price however.

Is there something in the 50-75 Watt range that doesn't cost $900.00+ ?

Scott
 

Gunner12

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
10,063
Location
Bay Area, CA
Haha, great story. I bet the knuckleheads were drunk or just really dumb. I'm glad the fire was put out and you are safe.
 

ScottB

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Messages
56
Location
SoCal
Heres a daylight shot. I'll be back with a beamshot in a few hours. The far tree in the center of the shot is where they were. The picture doesn't do justice to the amount of dry brush down there:

2730428110086088913S600x600Q85.jpg
 

Illum

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
13,053
Location
Central Florida, USA
I think your okay if the fire spreads...assuming there isn't head wind

the pictures threw my assumption out the window rather quickly...I was thinking of a dense patch of dried bushes

where I live is bordered by dense pine trees with the forest floor chock full of layers and layers of tropic low-palm leaves...
 

LuxLuthor

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Messages
10,654
Location
MS
Great story, and sounds like a very smart thing you did, and how you did it! :thumbsup: A 75W BarnBurner would have just added to the fire, or had them running into each other.
 

Bushman5

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
977
Just kidding about the hookers. :D

My home is on top of a 200 ft desert butte with a small town on one side and open desert on the other.

Last night I took a look down the hill on the desert side and there were some teenagers with a small fire burning at the base of my hill with nothing but extremely dry/dead brush between them and my house.

Concerned that I might be accidently burned out of my home I decided to introduce them to my Sam's Club 35W HID. They were about 1200 feet away and I lit them up like daytime for 3 minutes and shut it down. Usually folks just leave when illuminated like this but these knuckleheads started shouting obscenities and built their fire up some more.

So I did something I have never done before. I called 911.

About a minute later 2 fire trucks pulled up on the road above these guys but could not locate them because they were down in a small canyon next to my creek.

I cranked up the HID again and shined it first at one of the firetrucks and then down on the knuckleheads who were still unaware of the fire trucks and were still hollering. The fire trucks drove down the dirt road and followed my beam and just appeared right above these guys about 30 feet away from them. The knuckleheads scattered and I followed them for aways with the HID while they ran in panic and shock hehe.

The firemen jumped out and put out the fire with a shovel. They gave me a double flash with their spotlight when they were leaving and I give them a quick shot with the HID (the HID was insanely brighter than the firetruck spotlight lol).

I'm still laughing about it 24 hours later. :D

that is beautiful!!!! i did something similar, albiet on a MUCH smalle rlumen scale, with my W.E. M100 set on spot pattern,....we have a park across the way that the druggies hang out in after dark. I lit em up and they scattered.
 

mcmc

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
1,865
Next time what you need to do is mount some loudspeakers in your backyard, and then play some realistic-sounding SFX of a machine gun loading and firing =) heh!
 

Patriot

Flashaholic
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
11,254
Location
Arizona
LOL! Great story Scott! :twothumbs

I really like the beam shot because I can see how much light was hitting the area that the kids were in. No wonder they were yelling obscenities...lol.

Anyhow, I like how the story ended with teamwork with the firefighters and dispersed hoodlums.

Thanks for sharing.
 
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