Fires Do Happen...

[WAYNO]

As an Industrial Fire Chief, I have seen so many fires over multiple decades. Many were easily preventable.

I've preached fire safety, both at work and at home, since forever. In many cases, people laugh it off as old WAYNO worries too much.

I've seen appliance fires, tool fires, heater fires, Christmas light fires, electric motor fires, welding fires...The examples are endless.

Heliman just sent me this picture. It was his friends trailer. I wont profess to know how it started, but at least in a general conversation, a Little Buddy heater was mentioned. I don't trust these things unattended.



Bottom line...Do a fire safety audit of your home and workplace. Christmas is a great time to do so. If you don't think you know what to look for, many fire departments will perform this courtesy inspection.

 

[hittman]

Great reminder!

And boy was I embarrassed recently when my CO2 detector was blasting away and I discovered it was ..... um...... about 10 YEARS old! Nothing wrong with the 3 year old gas forced air HVAC at all. :lol:

The nearly $300 I spent at Home Depot for all new CO2 and smoke detectors for all 3 floors of my house was well spent.

And don't forget ..... no extension cords even if you DON'T hide them under a throw rug! :roll:

Last year 2 grade school age kids in my town died in a fire while their parents were at a local bar. Mom and Dad cut into a power supply next door to them with extension cords and used that to power their space heaters. The parents are now in prison; in addition to losing their own children.

 

[Heliman]

Thanks for posting Wayne. My friend and his wife were elk hunting. They were only away from camp about 30 minutes when alerted by a nearby camp. Things happen fast. Total loss and no one harmed.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Man, nothing like a visual lesson in the same campground to get your attention. I almost bought a buddy heater to add to my camper. I may have to rethink that. It get's cold up in elk camp.

 

[WAYNO]

Man, nothing like a visual lesson in the same campground to get your attention. I almost bought a buddy heater to add to my camper. I may have to rethink that. It get's cold up in elk camp.

I'm not suggesting not using such a heater. I use them myself.

My suggestion is, use them safely and as intended. Well footed to prevent tipping, a safe distance from combustibles, and even a greater distance from combustibles in the event the heater is tipped over. Yes they do have a tip-over shutoff, but they're still hot enough to ignite other fuels after they've tipped and shut off. Don't use them without adequate ventilation, and don't use them unattended.


See how easy it is to go from a friendly reminder, to sounding like preaching?







.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I didn't consider your heads up preaching. But I have to admit after seeing that I did something dumb while camping this fall. It's a good reminder.

 

[blackhawknj]

No different than practicing safe gun handling, driving, reloading....and encouraging others to do so.
Bismarck said a wise man learns from his mistakes but he preferred to learn from the mistakes of others.

 

[SAJohn]

Here in Central Oregon we have to be especially careful about the ground around our centuries old Juniper trees. Burn off some weeds near one and you can wind up with underground and unseen combustion. Add some wind, even days later, and you can have a raging fire.

John

 

[gramps]

Good job WAYNO! Visuals bring it all home! I use drop cords-big industrial grade ones, 12 foot long, but when I am home!
gramps

 

[caryc]

One good thing about where I live is that I don't run any heaters at night. It doesn't get that cold.

 

[SamV]

When I was selling electrical supplies, one of our regular contractors would come in and ask me what questions I had that week. DIY customers would come in all week looking for one thing or another. Mostly I knew the answers to their questions or could look up building codes, etc. One day when my regular electrical contractor came in and asked me for my question that puzzled me., I replied "Based on my conversations, why are there not way more electrical fires out there?" He paused and said that it is amazing that more people don't burn their house down.

 

[vito]

The last three years of my military service were as the Administrator of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, where we ran the 40 bed world famous burn unit. We would receive the worst of the worst burn injured, both military and civilian, usually when one of the big burn treatment units in our biggest cities felt that the case was beyond their ability to care for. So many times when I looked into how this person had been so horribly burned I would hear the same stories over and over. Things like trying to fill the gas tank on a super hot lawn mower that ran out of gas, or from smoking in bed, or from a kitchen fire that exploded so quickly the person could not get away, and on and on. My wife thinks me paranoid, but I keep good size fire extinguishers throughout the house and garage, and "Fire blankets" in the kitchen and by the gas grill. Serious burn injuries will ruin your life if they don't outright kill you. Be careful out there.

 

[Jeepnik]

The last three years of my military service were as the Administrator of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, where we ran the 40 bed world famous burn unit. We would receive the worst of the worst burn injured, both military and civilian, usually when one of the big burn treatment units in our biggest cities felt that the case was beyond their ability to care for. So many times when I looked into how this person had been so horribly burned I would hear the same stories over and over. Things like trying to fill the gas tank on a super hot lawn mower that ran out of gas, or from smoking in bed, or from a kitchen fire that exploded so quickly the person could not get away, and on and on. My wife thinks me paranoid, but I keep good size fire extinguishers throughout the house and garage, and "Fire blankets" in the kitchen and by the gas grill. Serious burn injuries will ruin your life if they don't outright kill you. Be careful out there.

Sometimes it's better if they do.

 

[vito]

The last three years of my military service were as the Administrator of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, where we ran the 40 bed world famous burn unit. We would receive the worst of the worst burn injured, both military and civilian, usually when one of the big burn treatment units in our biggest cities felt that the case was beyond their ability to care for. So many times when I looked into how this person had been so horribly burned I would hear the same stories over and over. Things like trying to fill the gas tank on a super hot lawn mower that ran out of gas, or from smoking in bed, or from a kitchen fire that exploded so quickly the person could not get away, and on and on. My wife thinks me paranoid, but I keep good size fire extinguishers throughout the house and garage, and "Fire blankets" in the kitchen and by the gas grill. Serious burn injuries will ruin your life if they don't outright kill you. Be careful out there.

Sometimes it's better if they do.

I have seen a burn victim without a face, without fingers, and without genitals. I had to ask if this was a man or woman (I was not a medical caregiver, but an administrator). Yet this person survived due to the superhuman effort of our surgeons and nurses. I dared to voice my question as to whether or not we were doing the right thing to save a person who would face unimaginable hardships for the remainder of their life, in addition to the pain and other medical issues. My Commander was livid with me for even saying what I did, saying that we must do our best to preserve human life, but I was not fully convinced.

 

[blackhawknj]

I learned fire safety in the Boy Scouts, the Safety Merit Badge was a required one. One Thanksgiving there was a grease fire in the Kitchen, it was the Eagle Scout who dealt with it. I put a box of baking soda in my icebox to absorb odors, when it expires it goes by the stove. What happened to the old idea that if you are chilly you dress more warmly, drink hot coffee, cocoa, tea ?

 

[kmoore]

Wayno or Heliman could either of you follow up when the fire investigation is done and if any cause is listed. It's difficult to tell by just one photo if there is enough evidence to find a cause. But, at some point the insurance co, fire marshall etc. will list something fact based. Around here that can take a couple weeks to months. Knowing what was the cause can help all on here to prevent the same thing.

 

[Heliman]

Wayno or Heliman could either of you follow up when the fire investigation is done and if any cause is listed. It's difficult to tell by just one photo if there is enough evidence to find a cause. But, at some point the insurance co, fire marshall etc. will list something fact based. Around here that can take a couple weeks to months. Knowing what was the cause can help all on here to prevent the same thing.

I was talking to my friend on the phone when he was alerted by a nearby camper/hunter that smoke was coming from the roof vents of his travel trailer. They had been away from camp about 30 minutes when they got the alert. When they got back to camp the smoke was heavy coming from the trailer. My friend opened the door and the heavy smoke ignited into fire. Within seconds the trailer was fully engulfed in flames. They were camped in the woods about a half hour from the nearest fire department. By the time they arrived it the trailer walls had collapsed and it was just a watch it burn and control the spread of fire.

My friend said that before they left they left the sink cabinet door opened to thaw out the water pump and lines. They used a Buddy heater to provide radiant heat to accomplish this... He said they believed there was nothing near the heater to cause a fire. I am sure the the insurance company and fire department will come up with a cause. I will let y’all know the end result.

Dave

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

I'm glad no one was hurt, it's difficult enough to lose you property, and what ever was in there, not sure if insurance will replace that stuff. I hope insurance replaces the trailer itself. You don't have to have insurance (my understanding) and it would be insured if it was attached to a vehicle. That would be tricky.

 

[caryc]

My sister was seriously burned from smoking in bed. This was about forty some years ago but, I'll never forget that night. I woke up to hear my sister screaming and her bed was on fire. We called for help and managed to get her onto my parents bed in the next room. The last thing I remember was her saying "why am I wearing these gloves" as she was pulling the skin off her hands. She spent about 3 months in the hospital and was badly scarred. Thank God her face wasn't scarred, mostly around her chest and hands. She did loose most of one thumb and part of her index finger.

If you must smoke, DON'T DO IT IN BED.

 

[kmoore]

I should have also mentioned I am really glad that no one was hurt. Property is 1 thing a life is totally different.
By opening the door oxygen is introduced into an area where there was none or little and allowed the fire to really take off. Same happens in a home at times when you open a door or window. Think about you trying to start a campfire and it is just smoldering and you blow on it to get flame.
If that happened to me, I would have also opened to door. Maybe it was just smoke and could be vented out. So, I do not blame the guy for opening the door.

 

[Heliman]

My friend says the fire marshal has judged “cause not determined”. On the scheme of things it is a negligible loss for him and the insurance company. Loss compensation will probably be under $15K. So, he suspects something went wrong with the propane heater.... No further investigation planned. The remains of the trailer are being removed by a salvage company as I write this.”

 

[Jeepnik]

Many years ago the area I lived in had a lot of trailer parks. Many of the tenants were GI's. We had a number of fires from various causes.
All were total losses but thankfully deaths and serious injuries were relatively few. The primary insulation at the time was styrofoam. We had a insulation rep come by our fire house to show us just how safe it was in a fire.

At one point in his demonstration he lit his zippo and held the flame to the flat side of a piece of insulation. It just sort of melted. Then one of the guys took the insulation and held it sideways (like it is in trailers) hit it with his zippo and up it went. That ended his presentation.

I'm sure that today's trailers are more fire resistant. But, if you have heavy black smoke coming out (that's superheated gases) and you open a door and let it have oxygen, it's going to go up and you can forget saving anything or anyone inside.