A Bright Idea

Some years ago, on a hot Saturday afternoon in rural Nova Scotia, a fisherman was enjoying a barbecue with his family. His boat bobbed gently in the water nearby, tied up at the wharf. Sounds from the neighbours drifted in the light breeze. Pretty much the whole village was out in their backyards, grilling.

You could put us on a postcard, the fisherman thought, grabbing a cold one from the cooler. His mother-in-law, Gladys, was even visiting for the weekend, sitting and drawing pictures of horses with the kids.

The backyard of the family homestead sloped down a few hundred feet to the shore. Tucked away in one corner of the lot was an old boathouse. The fisherman used it to store extra nets and gas. And he kept his boat there over the winter.

Gladys had the kids concentrating on their drawings at the picnic table. The fisherman’s wife dozed in the hammock—they were expecting another baby after Christmas. The halibut steaks were almost ready when Gladys called over.

“Is the boathouse supposed to be smoking?”

The fisherman looked. Damn, he thought, Grampy’s old tools are in there. He ran down to the shore. The neighbours from both sides arrived at the same time.

A car rolling slowly—and suspiciously—along the access road away from the shore. One of the neighbours ran to call the fire department and the RCMP.

It was impossible to save the boathouse or the contents, but the fisherman’s insurance covered everything, which eased the loss. And the RCMP picked up two of the dimmest thieves in Nova Scotia before they made it too far out of the village.

The thieves had been siphoning the fisherman’s extra gas. They couldn’t see if their gas can was full—it was dark inside the boathouse. One of them took out a lighter to check.

A lot of fire safety is just plain common sense. But common sense isn’t always as common as we think!