FROM PAGE 1 day is bordered on the north and west by the City of Stanley, though in the Town of Delmar. As such, it was and is within Boyd's territory, in terms of fire response. So where was Boyd aside from monitor- ing? We phoned Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire Chief Ron Patten as the swamp burned/ “It’s the kind of thing it’s hard to do a thing about,” Patten said Saturday afternoon, saying that if the department was called the responsible party “would probably get a big bill.” While Patten report- ed that one or two firefighters from Boyd were monitoring the situation to make sure it didn't get out of hand, the conventional wisdom Saturday was to let the swamp fire burn itself out, unless "anything of value" came to be threatened, ostensibly mean- ing buildings and such. "We'd intervene if anything of value is threatened," Patten said.

In the meantime the swamp fire contin ued toward sunset on Saturday, stopping at the green grass edge on the west and fizzling out without jumping the road to the south (though carbon-based 'confetti' did catch the wind), the fire still burning for a while in the far distance to the north, surrounded by dry swamp grass. Motorists making their way past, meanwhile, weren’t impressed.

"Who started this?" Asked one as they made their way through smoke drifting over the highway. "Don't we have a fire department in this town?" asked another. So what's with the delayed response?

Although within Boyd's fire department territory and serviced from it, Saturday's fire was located 5.5 miles from the near est district response, while the Stanley Fire Department is just 1.2 miles away. Being in the Town of Delmar east, then, has consequences.

Making contact with the Stanley Fire Chief for the still-ongoing swamp fire Sat – urday, Hagenson filled in more details.

"I'd love to do something, but it's Boyd's territory," he said of the fire–or in other words, the Friendly Town’s call.

With the area across the road also in the townships of Edson and Delmar serviced by the Boyd department, it was Ron Patten who ultimately made the call that In the end, we put it out,” Patten shared Monday via telephone. "Both Stnaley and Boyd helped put it out,” he said of Sat- urday's swamp grass fire. Patten was also among those monitoring things and made the call after the grass fire approached some homes by Family Dollar. As to how it all started, Merlin Gerrits filled in paper staff after pulling into a small turnoff just east of the flames to keep an eye on things.

"I'm surprised they haven't been out," Gerrits said while it was still burning as he related that the fire had started when sparks from a brush fire he was tending flew out into the swamp, with water below but dry and dead grass for fuel above. Ger –

rits said the previous owner of the prop – erty had burnt the land in question every year, while Saturday's brush fire eventually burned out, though not before taking loads of dry grass fuel with it. Come Spring wild- fire season, that lack of fuel could play an important role in whether a sequel devel – ops or takes place-along with fire district boundaries, it seems.

Brush fire wasn't all that happened last Saturday night, however. Just minutes after leaving the scene of the Highway X fire in the Town of Delmar, the well-known sirens and horn of the Stanley Fire truck were heard on the way to danger, while coming up X from the direction of Boyd, the Boyd-Edson-Delmar ambulance blew past the Stanley City Hall and Police Department, to parts unknown.

Delmar town island: Resting on an ancient seabed but cut off from the rest of its township by the City of Stanley municipal boundary, residents of the effective Del – mar town 'island' outlined above live a 5.5-mile drive time from the department they technically belong to, while the City of Stanley Fire Department is just 1.2 miles away by Google measure. Both Stanley and Boyd worked together to put the fire out, in the end. Graphic taken from County GIS map area measurement tool.