TECH: FIRE SAFETY, what NOT to do

This is more what to NOT do.
I was in the burn unit for a week or so because of this and almost died (6 years ago) I burnt a lot of the left side of my body, arm and face. The funny thing is that the guy in the hospital bed to my left in the burn unit had similar burns on the right side of his body from automotive burns also.

my story: Don't ever spray in starter fluid etc into a running engine. If it backfires it can blow up (which is bad enough on it's own), it then could cause a chain reaction when the can blows up and ignites the gas tank because the filler is by the engine and of course the gas cap is not on. This is what happened to me . I got away with it thousands of times for about 20 years before it was my number. Better to just let the engine die and repeat the process.

guy in bed next to me: His engine was seriously flooded. He pulled the spark plugs, leaned over the fender, and put the screw driver across the starter solonoid to turn the engine over and blow the gas out/ air out the plugs. Instant flame thrower action. He didn't disconnect the coil, and the spark plug wire ends were hanging by the head near the stream of gas and vapor being blown out of the spark plug hole. Blam.
A good way to die, or just burn your car down.

We both lived, but many do not.
I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else any time soon.
Keep a fire extinguisher within reach whenever there is an open flame, plasma, welder, etc etc And put your gas caps on and close your gas cans.
Take Care
Wil
www.sakowskimotors.com

 

I saw a buddy flayl around a 340 in a charger with a cup of gas on fire, while another buddy was trying to start it... he ended up catching his arm on fire and his tool box..... funniest thing I ever saw!!

 

Hell, when I prime an engine with gas I cap the can and set it on the ground away from the front of the car before I try to crank it. I'd rather have to walk a few more steps and try to crank it a few more times, than burn the thing down along with me and who knows what else.

 

Anytime I fire something up for the first time,, either fresh build or after major change to the fuel system, the fire extinguisher goes on the floor right in front of the car, pin pulled and ready to go.

PEOPLE ON FIRE IS NEVER FUNNY!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the tip-Now some will be more careful. I was thinking maybe we should start a thread of what we all do to try and stay safe in the garage.

 

great idea, we caould do it in this one, its already a safety thread anyway.

thanks for the fire tips, i always have my fireextinguisher handy when trying to fire an engine, and i try real hard not to do it alone, for just that occasion.

As for other safety. I have learned to always wear gloves. I never used to wear them, then one time i was wearing them, but took them off because i thought i was finished while grinding some steel (i was also standing on the frame rails in front of my firewall, while working on the roof, in itself a bad idea). then noticed a spot i missed, i turned the grinder on, and ground the spot i missed, while doing that, the machine kicked and cought my finger on my other hand. Dug in until it the bone, the kicked the finger around. First hit was right on the side of my first knuckle on the left side of the finger from the top (this is on the left hand, finger beside the thumb), it rolled my hand over and down. removed all the flesh from across the top of that knuckle, then rode up the finger to the second knuckle. It was pretty ugly for a long time, and i couldnt move the finger. I could see the bone. And can still feel the notch in it. Moral of the story, wear heavy leather gloves, even if your only going to grind for a "quick sec" if i was using a cut of wheel i would have lost the finger for sure. (i also had a friend wearing shorts and sandals using one of these and he dropped it. nothing happened, but it was quite a dance to watch...)

I have learned to wear safety glasses. I was lying on the ground under my car, using a air cut off tool, while cutting the bottom off my 1/4 panel. no safetly glasses. long story short, three trips to the hospital, and finally a trip to the opticrician to get the steel out of my eye. I was luckey on this one two, a few mm over to the side and it would have been in my field of vision. when i was a brick labour, no one understood why i would always wear safety glasses. well, thats why, didnt want to repeat that process again.

and a tip. if you would laugh at your friend for doing it, dont do it yourself! the best safety is common sense. dont cut corners while working on your car!

and i might as well throw this one in for good measure. A friend of mine almost died because he did this. he drove the front of his car up onto a 1ft high hill in his yard, then proceeded to jack up the rear end, and went under to remove his exhaust. didnt put the car on stands, didnt even put the ebrake on. the car rolled off the hill and fell of the jack. (this was a mid 80s car, so low its low to the ground anyway). He spent a number of months in intensive care because of the severeness of the crushing. I cant remember if it was his chest, or his stomach. he almost died. A friend of mine is volunteer rescure, and was at the scene. said it was one of the worst things he had ever seen. Dead bodies he could deal with, but a half crushed living one was a whole different story. USE AXEL STANDS, and dont use them on dirt either!

common sense will save your life, it almost cost him his, and has almost cost me a digit, and sight. Learn from our mistakes, please.

Beecher

 

If anyone is using a bench grinder without glasses or under a car without jack stands, they have lost their chance to ever set foot in my shop again. Safty equipment is no good unless you use it.
Don

 

Tuck your shirt in when using a angle grinder with a knotted wire brush, the damn thing felt like it was eating me, cuz it was.

Why don't they put intermittant switches on those things?

 

damn good ideas all ..
fire is not funny..
people on fire is not funny..
micheal jackson on fire .. is funny..

 

Not sure Michelle Jackson is actually a person,, but your right, that one was funny

 

It's amazing how quick fire can happen and how simple an act can turn deadly. I lost 2 friends in a shop fire 25 years ago, all they were doing is pouring gas out of a can into a car in their shop. Apparently the fumes got up into an overhead gas shop heater (like most of us have) and blew up. The image of the shop burning and one of the guys wandering out front in shock with his skin hanging off is one I'll never forget. He died an ugly week later from the burns, the other guy never made it out of the building.

 

One of my phobias is fire (the other is, heights), I almost burned the shop down, welding next to rags that I used to clean up lacquer thinner, days earlier.
Speedy recovery, man.

 

How many of ya'll really know how to use a Fire Extinguisher? DaTinman tells of a place that burned 'cause they tried to put out the fire by pulling the pins and throwing the FE in the fire! I've watched people get caught up in the moment and try to activate the FE without pulling the pin. Take time to read the instructions and check the unit for damage on a regular basis. I was trained to use the PASS technique: PULL the pin, AIM at the Base of the fire, SQUEEZE the trigger, and SWEEP from side to side. This works well; I've done it a few times in practice and for real...

As is always true, prevention is the best cure- so THINK about what yer doin'. I don't post here much; but I want to continue reading the comments of all of you. I'll get off my soap box now...

 

Never wear an old raggy ass shirt when welding.
I thought it was getting hot but I was doing a lot of welding.

It was hot all right, didn't know I was on fire until the flames came up in the hood.

Dumb Ass

 

Last night a guy next to me, we were both gas welding, I get done and pull my goggles and see something on the ground burning next to my feet. I look up and the guys whole jacket was on fire. It was some kind of synthetic cuz it melted up real fast. We patted him out but it scared the hell out of him. Dont weld in poly plastic shirts or jackets!

 

Right extinguisher for the job !..
A cousin of mine helped the machinist in the next shop over to his with a fire.
The guy had no extinguisher so my cuz hits the fire with his ... turns out to be a mag fire. About killed him .. years of treatment and almost lost his business ...

 

'Nuther reminder to have an extinguisher IN your car.
AND keep it somewhere handy so that you can get to it fast!
Last Wednesday i went out to "fire-up" my '64 chevy van which I hadn't moved for a couple of weeks. The last project i did on the van was to rebuild the carb. Well, i sat in it and cranked the ignition all the while pumping the gas. The thing about these early chevy's it that the engine is right next to you in the van. After about a minute of cranking i look over and smoke is streaming out of the doghouse. I open the latches on the cover and sure enough flames are pouring out of the carb! "A lightning-round of "oh Sh!t, oh Sh!t's" was followed by a hasty grab for the extinguisher i had attached to the front of the engine compartment. A couple of quick toots on the extinguisher and it was out.
I'll NEVER drive an old car with out an extinguisher. Lesson learned.
Also im firing my carb rebuilder.

Kooter

 

I burnt out my hotrod and most of the garage fannying about with fuel cans with a calor gas heater going.Same thing it draws the fumes,what an A-hole

 

Same as the raggedy shirt, but worth mentioning. For those in colder climes, don't weld (or cut) in raggedy insulated coveralls (or bib overalls) only minor burns here thank god.

Wear nothing synthetic that's not fire retardant or desgned to not support combustion. Dad and I are pretty cutious but even the synthetic blend coveralls wind up burning faster than the all cotton ones (yes they make Nomex coveralls, last I checked they were $400+ per suit, and yes Dad and I both have had at least one pair).

 

I've seen military surplus 100% nomex flight suits for around $170 online. Unfortunately they are only in sizes for young fit guys (and gals), not old fat asses like me.

Kurt

 

Here's some fairly inexpensive single layer suits. At least they won't just 'catch on fire' being close to a flame. Even make them in BIG sizes (so I can get one too) There are other vendors but $100 bucks for a 2 piece is not bad.
http://wescoperformance.stores.yahoo.net/sdx-firesuit.html

 

like i said, a friend of mine is fire rescue, talk them guys about weird things that cause fires. just this summer a local autoshop burned up. they were removing a a gas tank from a car. it wasnt fully drained. when it fell out, and flipped, fuel went everywhere, in the haste to clean it up, someone dropped a lit trouble light (wonder where the name come from???) the bulb burst on the floor, in the middle of the fuel. The shop was burned out, and has now gone out of business. imagine if that was your house? this could happen anywhere and to anyone. thankfully no one was injured tho.

another tip is no matter what happens, stay calm. i dont know how many times i hurt my self because i panicked.

and the other day, i was using a trouble light over one of my engines with the valve cover off. the bulb blew up for no reason at all, thousands of pieces of glass, some as fine as dust, all over my valve train (this is in a 2 year old car too). Maybe the number one tech tip of tech week should be to never use a trouble light. I use those halogen plastic something or other none breakable stick lights at work. Im going to go buy a few this week.

i dont even want to think about any other dumb shit ive done that has been totaly avoidable if i wasnt cutting corners or being too cool, and im only 24. id hate to hear some of you old guys' stories!! hahah

Beecher

ill add another one, this one i seen happen. step one, bolt a chain to a SBC, stock a steel pole threw the chain. step 2, grab one end, get a buddy to grab the other. stand on the frame rail, while sitting on the still attached fender. step three. hoist the engine up and forward. step four, crush your testicals when the engine slips and nail your balls between the pole you were using to hoist, and the fender.

this was the most painful thing i had ever seen in my life. buy a cherry picker people, their cheap, borrow one from a friend. 3 of your friends buy a group one. i dont care, but dont do this to your self (or your wife!!). and dont use bottle jacks to lower the motor and raise the car either. ive done that, it takes to long, and i dont want to think about what would happened if that thing gave. I now have 10 axle stands, a chain hoist on my I beam on the ceiling and a cherry picker (well, my neigbors, but its been in my shop longer than it was in his). this is not an area where you should hillbilly it.

 

I hear ya, I'm 6'3" X round myself. I have thought of a 'cheap' driver's suit, but I don't know they would last very long in a 'shop' environment. I really should check on the Nomex coveralls again.

 

I keep the pins pulled out of the fire extinguishers in my garage. My friend had a fire in his garage, freaked out grabbed the extinguisher and squeezed the handle with the pin still in, bending the hell out of the pin so he couldn't pull it out and blocking the handle. Luckily he had another extinguisher in the back of the garage and put the fire out before it caused too much damage.

 

Concerning wearing gloves, most of the gloves from Mechanics Wear are nylon, and burn easily! Yes, I know from firsthand experience. Make sure you have leather or cotton gloves for welding.

 

Some of my best ideas came after sipping a few suds, likewise some of my dumbest and most dangerous stunts also! Alcohol and power tools as well as gasoline dont mix. I love to sip a few when I'm in the shop working as well as (maybe more so) the next guy but it is a bad habit to get into. Now we all know this but do we do it?? Think before and after you pop that top!!

 

Dumb question--- but where does everyone keep their gas cans? I mean, I don't want them in my basement garage so I keep them in my shop garage, which then I have to always remember to move when welding /grinding. The shop is 50 feet or so from the house, so I'd rather keep them there. (reasier to replace a shop then family). Maybe it's time to get a little garden shed.

 

outside in my shed that is well ventilated....joe

 

Being a paid fire fighter I seen some that just make you think.

I one I alway remember is the guy that drain his gas tank into the blue can for Kerosene forgot about. it. later that year he put the gasoline that was in the blue can in his Kerosene heater by mistake. Burnt down his garage and almost did not make it out.

The other was the person that was using a ivory bottle to spray gasoline in there carb.to get the car running. the car backfired and caught there cloth on fire. This happen in the middle of a store parking lot. They had second and third degree burns on the chest and face.

Had one myself. Had the intake off a 302 ford. No cap on the dist. Got in the truck to turn the motor over. As I did the gasoline shot out of the end of the gas line and right into the dist. Lucky I had my fire extinguisher close by.

 

I use a flammable cabinet. pipe to the outside.