Inside a fire truck in the Carr Wildfire - video

[Frank S]

Pjs I'm pretty sure the IVV international volks vanderwag is considered a sport at least we thought it was. Did you ever do Kelheim? We called it kill him once did a 30 and a 42 k in the same weekend and often did multiple 10 to 20 k s in a single weekend. In 76 all of us who shared the same stairwell in our off post housing went on 3 marches on a single Saturday 4 of our wives were from 6 to 8 months pregnant at the time so the 6 ladies only took the 7 k short march while us guys went on the 15K
we finished our march then went looking for the women caught up with them about the time they were a little over half way. When you are used to stepping it out it is really hard to stroll 3k at a snails pace.
How did you like the warm broth refreshments they always offered?

[PJs]

Pjs I'm pretty sure the IVV international volks vanderwag is considered a sport at least we thought it was. Did you ever do Kelheim? We called it kill him once did a 30 and a 42 k in the same weekend and often did multiple 10 to 20 k s in a single weekend. In 76 all of us who shared the same stairwell in our off post housing went on 3 marches on a single Saturday 4 of our wives were from 6 to 8 months pregnant at the time so the 6 ladies only took the 7 k short march while us guys went on the 15K
we finished our march then went looking for the women caught up with them about the time they were a little over half way. When you are used to stepping it out it is really hard to stroll 3k at a snails pace.
How did you like the warm broth refreshments they always offered?

In the late 50's when I was there the first time as a young lad, they were called Volksmarch's and were hosted by the local Bürgermeister...and no affiliation to sport walking, just people joining together to clean up the forest and have some fun. Men, Women, & Kids participated and would cover maybe 10 acres at a time. As I remember we would end up at the Gasthaus down the hill from where we stayed for a feast, more fun and much imbibery from the adults, but do remember having schnapps the first time at one. We were up just north of Kaiserslautern. Kelheim is down by München and did go there for Oktoberfest a couple of times.

In the mid-late 90's when I started going back to Germany for work I went on walks (not clean ups) with a few of the people we were working with in the evenings and the forests were still clean. One along the Elbe was quite memorable, clean and beautiful, ending at a small eatery across the river from King Otto's fortress with live music, good Köstritzer and nice People...and a bit of a wobble back to the hotel. Went to a lot of places in the country then, most centered around Magdeburg, Berlin, up to Essen and Hamburg, Hanover and down to München, and Stuttgart once.

Seems to me we could take that style on and bring people together with BLM and/or local forestry people to do it, instead of letting it get so bad their fire hoses are sucked into a fire whirl. Nothing like a 150' of fire hose with a 6-10lb nozzle whipping around like bull whip to make your day exciting or go very wrong.

[Frank S]

I'm not sure when the IVV came into play they were still called volksmarches but organized into long wanderings through the local forests and villages almost everyone carried a small canvas bag slung over our shoulders. just in case the errant twig or gasp a piece of actual litter happened to be found we would put it on our bags sometime several would form up in groups and spread out a few meters to either side of the trails in search of Müll
And since these had been organized into a sponsored activity there was a nominal fee for most of them you always received some trinket pin or medal or a patch for your vest, upon completion and had our books stamped much like a passport stamp with the sponsoring name of the town or village. in the over 3 years I was there I had managed to accumulate 3 5000 k patches I was nearing my 20,000 k patch when my ETS date came up.
For a while there were volksmarches here in Texas down around Fredricksburg and new Braunfels and a couple more but they were only once a year and I,m not sure they caught on very well. but they were more like timed power walks than what I had been accustomed to

[Frank S]

Apparently there is still a following of these here in the states called the AVA
American Volkssport Association

[Jon]

Now that firenados have become such a viral darling, they're increasingly appearing in physics demos. Here's a gem, in a 20-second video:

You frequently see people on fire on the internet, but it's very rare that they execute a proper stop-drop-and-roll like this guy, complete with a confident hands-on-hips finish.

I am again reminded of the classic Eddie Murphy "I want the knife" scene in the 1986 film The Golden Child.

[Frank S]

One thing about the guy was he did remain calm.
About firenados I can't believe that I sat through the entire series of 7 or 8 episode movies of the sharknados with a couple great nephews that was the first time I heard of a firenado I think.

[PJs]

Good one Jon!! I thought it was a bit Laurel and Hardy myself, but he almost got started...Ooops. With the pause on his side...Oh yeah, roll over on it...but the end with his hands on his hips and bow...priceless.

Blips like these are Good, Keep Yang up! Golden Child, one of my top 15 movies all times. My son and I still trade lines from it.

[Jon]