5 minute freewrite 2837 prompt not quite dead

This is my post for #freewriters 2837 prompt not quite dead hosted by @mariannewest

We have not had much rain, and when I walk across my yard, it crunches. We have been getting lightning with little to no rain. A couple of months ago, lightning started a fire in the woods by my house, but they got it put out before it spread out of control. There were more lightning fires, but not near me, until yesterday.

Everyone got lucky with this one because if it had happened the day before instead of yesterday, houses would have been lost. The wind was gusting to 35. Yesterday there was not much wind.

Lightning started another fire, it was 5 miles from me, but only 2 miles from my mother's house, where my sisters are living. Luckily, it was going away from them.

My sister sent me a video of the fire next to two homes, flames were higher than the roofs. Little did I know, my son was in the woods picking berries when it started.

My son said he saw the fire when it started. He ran to a nearby lake and filled his bucket, and ran back to the fire. He said it was spreading faster than he could get water to it. He said he kept doing this until the police arrived and yelled at him to get out of there. He said all they did was stand there and watch it. He said it grew fast and even had fire tornadoes running along the railroad tracks.

As far as I have heard, no homes were lost, the people were evacuated, and everyone was safe. My sister said she has a lot of ash at her house.
copied from
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1248381187331603&set=pcb.1248363840666671
My son has been picking palmetto berries. Pharmaceutical companies make a pill that they claim helps men with their prostate.

Because of the drought, the bloom has not done well this year. I remember back to a year just like this in the early 1990s. I was making 50 dollars an hour picking berries, they paid 2.25 a pound. My husband and a couple of other fishermen stopped fishing to pick berries. I think my son is getting 1.30 a pound, but I heard they are paying more in the middle of the state, 1.70 a pound.

This year, instead of getting ripe, they are shrinking and turning black, and falling off of the stock. It is hard enough to find good berries this year, and now this fire will kill all of them that it hits that were not quite dead yet.

This stalk of berries is more shaded, and they look healthier than the other photo, those are in full sun. We have a few stalks of these in our yard and are waiting for the price to get higher before we pick them.
unless stated photos are mine