This happened some years ago, but I was reminded by my sister, due to fires near her.
My family had gone camping (9 or so of us, anyway). We were enjoying ourselves, sitting outside and talking. The ranger came by, and was apparently upset, saying something about ignoring the fire prohibition. He indicated the fire ring. He then said he was going to put out our fire. I objected, but he wouldn't listen. He dumped water from a 5-gallon bucket on our cheer. I sighed, and he triumphantly walked off. We continued our conversation, but now about a certain ranger.
Some time later, the ranger came back, really upset with us, and accused us of restarting our fire. I had done nothing of the sort, and said so. He again indicated our cheer. I told him if he'd listened better, maybe he'd have had more success.
The ranger produced his 5-gallon bucket of water, and again doused our cheer. He said something about my smart mouth, then went and got another bucket of water. When the ranger returned, our cheer was as bright as ever, but some of us had turned in, by this time. The ranger was apparently really mad. He threatened me. I reiterated that he didn't know what he was doing, which upset him even more. I figured he needed taking down a peg, so I asked if he'd like me to show him how it's done. This only made the ranger more upset. Obviously, the ranger hadn't been very successful, and I really couldn't do worse than he had done.
Some people won't listen, and this ranger was the poster boy for not listening. He dumped the water on our cheer. This time, though, he did not leave. He said he'd stay to make sure I didn't re-light the fire. I told him he must've re-lit it himself, and I really didn't like him accusing me of things I didn't do, and, unless he had proof, I didn't re-light it. The ranger admitted someone else in my family could've lit it, but I insisted that if he thought it was lit, it must've been he who did it.
All this time, he was between me and our cheer. I took some things inside, with him watching me, and his back to our cheer. About this time, I pointed out that our cheer was back. The ranger was really mad. Obviously, I reminded him that he was the only one near our cheer, so it could not have been us.
He wanted to know if I was trying to make a fool of him. I allowed how he was doing an admirable job of that, all by himself. I told him that, when he quit yelling and accusing me of things, I'd apprdciate it if he'd remove the batteries, so they didn't wear down.
The ranger got really quiet. Apparently, he really did not see the plastic strips, the fan, or the lighting. When I turned in, he was sitting in one of our camp chairs, watching our cheer. The next morning, the batteries were dead, and the chair was empty.
