House Fire/ Propane Grill

M

Mike J

Hawkeye
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
5,348
City & State/Province
GA
Sitting on the front porch last night & heard a high pitched noise. Then a bunch of pops almost like a lawnmower hitting rocks. Then people yelling. I've done sheet metal work since '89 so my hearing isn't the best. I was trying to figure out what was going on. About then I saw smoke from behind their home, then I saw the flames came up where I could see them above their roof. I scooted across the street to try to help just as the everyone came out from inside. The people & all their pets made it out. I went over to help but there was really nothing I could do. From the time I heard the high pitched noise to when I saw the flames above the roof was maybe 5 minutes.

I was standing there when the homeowner was answering the fire departments questions. He said it started when they lit their gas grill. Said flames shot out behind the tank. I guess the high pitched noise I heard was the pressure coming off the propane tank. Then he said he tried to wet down the siding to keep it from catching fire but off course he couldn't do enough with a water hose.

I know most folks that frequent this site are a bit older & I suspect a bit wiser than me so y'all probably already know this but if you use a gas grill keep it a distance away from your home. It might not be convenient but these people lost everything but themselves & their vehicles in a matter of minutes.
 
Having worked in the natural and propane gas industry for over 30 years I can't help but wonder how a fire like that gets started. The tank has a pressure relief valve that should only blow if the tank is heated or possibly overfilled. Perhaps there was a leak in one of the connections that caught fire and heated the tank? Being present when cooking is rather important. Sorry your neighbor had all that damage. :(
 
Sounds like a combination of a leak that ignited and people panicking... just second guessing, but I would have been trying to move the grill away from the house. Sad for sure.

Fellow sweep here in town was also a Fireman for 25 years and he explained to me that our city made a code that no propane grills could be on a 2nd story deck of multi family dwellings... they had one go off years ago and then it proceeded to set off several more down the line.
 
My gas grill is 15 ft away from the house. I once saw a leaky connection catch fire (luckily in a park) and shoot a 10 ft flame that was really scary. I had just warned the people who owned the grill that I could smell gas downwind, but they didn't listen.
 
News article, neighbours grilled out, they went in to eat. Grill was very hot to close to the vyinial siding, siding ignites, excess heat causes the relief valve to open, excess propane ignites under high pressure. Fire accelerated, beyond garden hose capabilities! Lost home and contents! Overloadded
 
I honestly don't know what failed. Al I heard the man say was that flame was coming from the back of the tank. He said they had just gotten the tank the day before. I found myself wondering if it might have been the line or connection that failed. I am pretty sure petroleum is used in the manufacture of vinyl siding. It seemed to take off really fast. I did think about if it were me I would probably have tried to drag it away from the house but it is easy for me to say that now. When things are happening isn't a good time to be trying to figure it out.
 
I was second guessing too.... I once thought it would be a good idea to shoot a 1lb propane bottle from about 25ft away.... to this day I still have that bottle to remind me that you're never too old to do something really stupid.... when I shot the bottle I was prepared to watch what would happen... what I was not prepared for was the ball of fire that happened instantly and stopped about 1ft in front of my face.
 
Luckily I have plenty of rock maple! These trees are everywhere around here.
Makes great cooking fires in my Weber kettle grill. Love it fuel is free! ps
 
blume357 said:
I was second guessing too.... I once thought it would be a good idea to shoot a 1lb propane bottle from about 25ft away.... to this day I still have that bottle to remind me that you're never too old to do something really stupid.... when I shot the bottle I was prepared to watch what would happen... what I was not prepared for was the ball of fire that happened instantly and stopped about 1ft in front of my face.
Click to expand...

Glad you weren't any closer. Definitely an attention getter.

We don't really use the stuff anymore but we used to use solvent (oil) based duct sealer. There was a job I was on that required a very stringent pressure test. We were sealing everything on the inside (all the seams corners etc.). The ductwork was a fairly heavy gauge so it was difficult to cut with snips. We had been cutting taps with a metabo grinder. So I came in half asleep on a Saturday & started to cut in a tap. Ba-Boom! I ducked & the duct swung back & forth where my head had just been. Thankfully the line wasn't tied in hard as we had left part of it out due to some fitter's pipes that were in the way so the explosion had somewhere to go to. The open end was covered with sticky plastic to keep the duct clean on the inside though & it was enough to contain the fumes. I hadn't even thought about the fumes. I felt pretty dumb but learned later I was far from the only person that happened to.
 
I was an industrial (private) Fire Chief for many years. I have seen fires started by, or fueled by just about anything imaginable, including propane, cutting gases, aerosol cans, heaters...The list is endless.

Quite often I was involved in fire safety inspections, either by myself, or in conjunction with insurance company engineers or the Fire Marshal.

And every time, I/we would find fire safety hazards that were easily and immediately correctable, but in too many cases, the employees would argue and even completely refuse to comply.

As I said, I've seen so many fires, I don't trust anything. What are the odds of a modern propane BBQ grill starting a fire? Probably not extremely high, but it is still very possible. So why take a chance using one next to or inside a building? Ask someone to move that BBQ away from a building or other fuels, and the request may not be received cordially.

One really big fire I was associated with, we had a hot coupling on a large pulp-chip-blower. There was a can of aerosol grease sitting under the coupling guard. Enough heat was generated by the failing coupling, there was a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) of the aerosol can which sprayed grease and aerosol propellant across a large room, which ignited as soon as the aerosol material was exposed to the air, completely destroying the room and equipment with fire. I just about guarantee, had I requested the operators or other maintenance folks to store the aerosol can elsewhere, I would have encountered resistance.

Likewise, when I'm somewhere and see something as simple as cooking spray near cooking appliances, and I mention it, folks think old WAYNO has gone off the deep end again.






.
 
Sorry to read of the fire but glad all made it through.

Wayno - wow - your experience is far different from mine. Before transitioning into consulting, I spent my career in the pharmaceutical / medical device industry. In that industry, if the safety office tells some to do something or not do something, it had better happen immediately...

Jim
 
The most dangerous place at my home has to be my outside kitchen... Wayno would probably freak out.... I did figure out about a year ago that leaving that mason jar with 180 proof alcohol on the shelf above my propane fired griddle was not a good Idea.... an errant squirrel it seems ran through one day and knocked it off .... I cleaned up the mess and then realized that if it tipped over and off while I was cooking that would be a bad thing....

I know, now you are asking why there was a jar of 180 proof alcohol sitting on the shelf.... we all have our hobbies.... three of mine can be defined by the initials... ATF.....
The shelf that the bottle was on:
 
You'd be surprised at the number of people who set themselves, their house, or their wooden deck on fire when the "turkey friers" started showing up. Two to five gallons of smoking cooking oil and a propane flame will do that quite rapidly.
 
I was at a large family Thanksgiving dinner a few years back, and part of this involved a couple of those turkey fryers . . . set up just inside the large overhead door of the metal equipment building adjacent to the house. The weather was cool enough that the door was closed.

As the fryers raised the oil to cooking temperature, I pointed out that this was a rather bad idea because when the birds were inserted there would be a lot of really hot oil displaced and possibly be ignited by the propane burners. They all laughed. I went into the house and quietly told my wife to be ready to get out of the house when/if the worst happened. It didn't, but the likelihood was certainly present.

The turkeys turned out great. :)
 
A hunting buddy brought his turkey fryer into my 14x16 ft canvas wall tent because it was below 32f outside. I think we all told him to get it outside. One of those times a person says "I have not had a problem." That could be true but many others have.
 
I have my grill on the back deck behind my kitchen, keeping it about a foot from the wooden railing of the deck. But the grill does not use a propane tank, but burns natural gas on a gas line from inside my house. Not only does it seem much safer to me, but I never worry about running out of fuel halfway through cooking the meat. I grill 3 or 4 times a week, year round, and having this natural gas fuel source is a real pleasure.
 
We went to church this morning & the husband of the lady that taught Sunday School said they had an incident this week. Where you screw the line on the propane tank leaked on their grill. He said it was spraying flames on their deck & he was spraying water on it while his wife got oven mitts. He said he used the oven mitts to reach in the flames & cut the gas off. I never realized there were so many issues with propane grills. Ours was moved further from the house after the fire that caused me to start this thread.
 
Pretty sure a fire extinguisher would have put it out. Then just shut the valve.

I don’t understand the scenario described in the op. Only thing I can think is it was a line leak.

I think a grease fire is more likely than a propane incident. Remember to keep a box of baking soda handy.

I think the Turkey fryer incidents are usually caused by a frozen bird, the ice melts and flashes to steam and causes the oil to overflow and ignite.

Be careful out there.
 
Make sure there are no leaks on your grill before you fire it up. Turn the gas on and sniff around, make sure the connections are tight and if any doubts mix up a soap solution in a plastic jar: 1 part liquid dish soap, 4 parts water and beat it into a froth with a 1" paint brush. Use the brush to coat the connections and the tank valve stem with the soap solution and see if there are any bubbles coming out from the connections. Then light your grill.
 
blume357 said:
Or folks don't realize how much oil will be displaced when you lower the turkey into it and it actually over flows... I think that is the more likely scenario.
Click to expand...

When I got my turkey fryer before I fried the first one I put it in the pot (frozen) and filled the pot with water until the bird was covered. Then took the bird out and scribed a line at the water level AND noted the weight of the bird. That way I had a reference to know how much oil to put in. If I got a different weight turkey I would do the same thing. My pot has about 4 lines on it for different oil amounts for different weights. When I cook a turkey in the late fall/winter I do it in my breeze way and the turkey is completely thawed (and brined) and I lower it into the oil a little at a time (watching that the foaming oil does not rerach the top of the pot) until the bird is completely immersed. Never even had much of a oil splatter problem.

My propane grill is on my deck about 15 feet from the house and I check the fittings and hose every year before using it and regularly throughout the season. I too have seen what can happen if people are careless and think they never have to do anything other than to change the tank and wire brush the grates.
 
The other odd thing I’ve heard blamed for grill fires are spider nests. Apparently they nest in the burner tubes and create a blockage.
 
The worst BBQ grill accident I ever saw was when a guy burned down his whole patio storage building that had a grill built into the side facing the pool. He said he turned it on 'high' after cooking to burn off the grates, like he always did, but forgot about it for a couple of hours. Next thing he new it was fire dept time. :D
 
The fellow at church said the rubber O ring was missing from the fitting that screws on the tank on their grill. The man whose house burned down said that the tank had just been replaced. I suspect maybe the fault was in the connection. It was never my intent to slam propane grills or their use. Just to make sure folks were aware of what can happen.
 
My vacation place is on a island in the Straits of Mackinaw. Last year a older couple where opening their cabin and he turned on the propane and pump for the well. She was in the basement looking for water leaks. The propane water heater had filled so he lighted the pilot light. There was a propane leak in the basement and the house explode blow him out the front door and she was trapped in the basement. The Volunteer Fire Chief was the first on the sight and had to wait till help got there before rescuing the lady in the basement! The man had many broken bones and cuts. The Lady was burned bad and spent most of the summer in a hospital. So propane is dangerous and be careful…..
 
had to call the fire marshall on a tenant who refused to obey lease.
he had a grill on a wooden deck, against a shingled wall, under a wooden porch roof.
it was a duplex and he was on 1st floor.
 
when I was young my father blew himself across our garage trying to light our propane hot water unit.... the issue with propane is it is heavier than air and thus puddles, natural gas is lighter than air and rises....
 
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