It was like any other day at Fontainebleau state park. I was with a friend of mine taking photos, and we saw dark black smoke coming from near the pavilion that once sat along side the pool that was destroyed during Katrina. After we saw the smoke, we noticed a kid/guy running from the smoke. We walked over causally, assuming it was simply a BBQ pit that had too large a flame. When we got to the fire I (Tim Stephens, pictured in orange) realized it was a six by six by four trash bin that hand set ablaze. I quickly ran over to another trash bin and grabbed an empty trash can, armed with the trash can I ran to the small pond next to the pavilion, filled it with water and hefted it to the fire. About half way back to the fire Jonathan Ware(pictured in green) helped me with the nearly full trash can of water. We began to throw water on the fire, it took three or four half full trash cans of water to put it out. By the time the fire department arrived we had the fire completely out. I was told my quick thinking saved the pavilion from catching fire.
The park ranger told me that the pavilion was built in 1930, and had survived a 17 foot storm surge from Katrina and thanked me very much for my quick action. Both the ranger and one of the fire fighters shook my hand.
The photos were taken by Alexandria Guzman.
