Just because there's a fire...

... doesn't mean you HAVE to call the fire department.

Sometime after midnight, the FD is dispatched to an unknown-type fire. Units arrive on location to find it is nothing more than a large trash pile on fire. The area around it has been cleared and is very wet, there is no wind, and the whole surrounding area is water-logged after two weeks of near-continuous precipitation. This fire is not out of control and is not going anywhere.

We decide not to worry about putting it out. It is freezing and it would take several hours and several truck loads of water to put out what is essentially a harmless fire. I stick around for better than an hour just to make sure it burns down before heading to the house. I'm not home more than thirty minutes when we are dispatched yet again.

So why was it reported? Better yet, why was it reported a second time two hours later?

I guess the drunks coming home at three in the morning have nothing better to do...