Burning Suwannee

 Burning Suwannee

Heavenly Line by john Clare Stokes

It was one of those steaming hot days of April at Big Shoals on the Suwannee River. I was on the Mountain Bicycle making my way West along the trail from the Big Shoals down to Little Shoals where the vehicle was parked. As I came to the intersection of Roads 5 and 6, I heard a siren sound. I rode a few yard further and met a Forestry Service Truck with a bulldozer in tow. I stopped. The gentleman in the truck said they were about to do a controlled burn and were there any other cyclists behind you? I said I was the only bicyclist. Feeling compelled for some unexplained reason, I asked the kind gentleman if I could take his photograph. He said sure. I quickly composed one photo and hurried along my way. Behind I could see the smoke rising from the controlled burn.

I drove my vehicle to the Columbia County side of Big Shoals at Bell Springs and photographed the Suwannee River with the smoke bellowing in the background.  I returned home, and did not give the lone photo another thought. Until....

It wasn't until the June 26 Reporter published a small photograph of Brett Fulton, 52 who lost his life in a Forest Fire on June 20th along with his fellow worker, Joshua Burch. It bore a resemblance to the photograph of the gentleman I had taken back in April.  I attempted for several weeks to get someone to identify the person in the photograph. Finally, a friend who works as a welder for the Forestry Service, Joe, came by where I worked, and I showed him the photo. He said that it was Brett in his truck.

I share this photograph as a tribute to Brett and as possibly the last photograph taken of him in April. He died fighting the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County on June 20th, 2011.. May his family and fellow workers who mourn his loss, along with Joshua, find comfort in the many who expressed their love and support.

The Heavenly Line

Into this wilderness forest

We venture brave and bold

The sun is high and before

us grand vistas unfold

But all too soon the path

grows dark and the trail

narrows and ends

It is then when all seems

lost and hope is gone

That there are two whom

the Lord now sends

With fires blazing all about

With embers closing in

upon the narrow way

Through the smoke and

fire they come one by one

Sent to grade the Heavenly

Line

To make a straight path

of safety to His Son.

Suddenly they are gone to

return to the ranks.

We look up through smoke

To see the straight ribbon blue

and say to the Lord,

Thanks for sending

Brett and Joshua

to clear the way to you.