I should had been dead. I was cutting 3in of steel for free ,about 4 to 5 feet from were I was cutting A fire started, my garage door was down.I ran for the fire extinguisher was empty,ran to the water hose it was off,ran to turn the water on.by on the smoke had fill the garage I could not find the rope to open the door try to hose the fire down I couldn't see or breath. I lay on to floor about 8 in to 12in of air I could see the fire the plastic on my bench grinder would not go out. I had to run out to get some clean air. my son came out of the house at this time he was yell at me not to go in ,stay out ,i had to keep trying this time i got the door open and did a lot of the high smoke was going out .I could see the fire a put it out . 1 truck 48 ford coe was in the garage .it did not get burn , After it over on the wall is a good fire extinguisher about 10 feet from the fire..I was real lucky I could had lost me my truck and all my tools plus the garage... I was thinking that the fire extingusher should be low on the floor so you can see them and how can i clean the smoke smell out
careful... Fire extinguishers are nice, but in my experience a good garden hose at close hand is the best back-up plan. You can knock a lot of shit out with one.
You could've lost a lot more than your truck and tools. Smoke is a bitch on your lungs, and fire moves faster than you can imagine. Glad you survived it. Remember: only you can prevent garage fires.
that smell will hang in there for a long time..and on those damp days 2 years later you may still get a wif of it. good thing you got it out, good thing you were safe.
Lucky Man! Good idea about keeping the extinguisher mounted low. The least we should all do is have a large container of water available. I need to do this myself.
I had a similar scare a few years ago. You don't forget it.It made me a lot more careful when I'm working out in the garage.
I've got extinguishers at every door and a large one that is taken to the site of any cutting or welding. I've had similar experiences and had a friend loose everything from a small welding fire that spread before he was able to get a hose. Frank
Hey 48fordcoe, Good to hear you made it out alive! Try a bunch of vinegar in pans,or even wipe the walls and things down with it. Lotsa ventilation will help too. Good luck with your clean up!
Extinguishers should be at the exits to force you to get near an exit first, then decide if you can put the fire out. Water is a very bad idea if oil starts on fire. A garden hose will only spread a grease fire. Water is good on solids, but bad on liquids. I'm a fire fighter and have seen first hand what water will due when used on the wrong thing. Example: A guy started a metal gallon pail of used oil on fire while welding. It would have burned safely by itself, but he put water on it and spread the fire throughout his shop. He lost it all. BTW: fire extinguishers are cheap. Spend $30 every two years on new ones, and practice putting out fires with the retired ones. I'll get off my soap box now.
Glad you're OK and you didn't burn down your shop. Stories like this are good to keep the rest of us on our toes. Hey since we're talking about fire, I thought I'd mention to everyone to not leave scraps of old blue masking tape sitting around on the floor of your shop. I've caught that stuff on fire accidentally a few times when welding sparks or grinding sparks got onto it. For some reason, that blue tape bursts into flames pretty easily. I guess the adhesive is really flammable or something. A pile of dead dried-up leaves right next to where you're grinding isn't a good idea either (from experience).
Consider yourself lucky. We have to have the fire extinguishers here at work 12 inches off the floor. We also have them serviced yearly. It kinda helps to know were each one is also.
Obviously, you are correct about water on burning liquids. However, I have successfully doused gasoline fires with a hose several times. If you can put enough water on it, you will smother it. You just need to be careful that you don't, as you stated, push it around. If I had a burning oil bucket I would promptly put some sort of lid over it and smother it that way. I've put out a few fires in my day (at my last job we set shit on fire half the time) and fire extinguishers are great in certain circumstances. But if you are outisde w/ a wind or the area burning is not well defined / enclosed... they don't work for shit. Blasting w/ a hose works a lot better. IE try putting out a burning branch on a tree w/ a C02 extinguisher - forgettaboutit.
You are a lucky guy in some ways!! There was a frontpage story in yesterdays paper about a local garage fire that spead to the house and burned both of them down. It also burned up the motorhome parked next to the garage. It said in the paper that the owner was welding on his "classic" Mustang in the garage. needless to say the Mustang was also lost....Gotts go check my extinquishers!
Well, I am a fire fighter and it sounds like you kept your head to some extent, but you really put yourself at risk for shit that can be replaced(except the truck) Anyhow, to answer your question. If you have insurance, and are going to make a claim, there are a few companies out the there that do restoration work, they treat all the wood with chemicals to help rid the smell. If you are not going to make a claim, then anything that is porous needs to be cleaned and the wood and wall finishes need to be coated, there are some products that you can buy. I am not sure what they are called, but have seen them used. you should also open the attic and ventilate it well, that smoke will settle up there and linger forever. I seriously doubt, you will completely eliminate it, but you you should be able to get it down to the point that it will clear out after a good summer airing out.
I just used mine on a v8 s10 last weekend, time for a new one. trying to set base timing, little puff out the exhaust manifold, little smoke, hard to get to. figured the bottle was cheaper than having to pull the motor to get to whatever started flaming.
Just to clarify, most garden hoses in rural settings (me) don't have enough gallons per minute, or pressure to safely extinguish a decent size fire. Not to say it can't be used, but to be aware that it should be a secondary option. CO2 extinguishers should not be used on a wood fire. A CO2 extinguishers primary purpose is electrical fires and are rarely seen in a household.
glad you are okay , and didn`t lose life or equipment, but thanks for posting , since it seems that i get slack on checking my fire ext and other preventions, as soon as i read it i went out and did a good check, thanks for the kick in the ass
Never can be too careful with fire, I'm glad your ok. We just checked our equipment and we're good to go>>>>.
im also a firefighter and have something to add to the good advice given already. get an ABC dry chemical extinguisher, it covers class A- ordinary combustibles like wood, cardboard and most plastic. B- flammable liquids like gasoline, grease and oil. and C- electrical. downside is it is corrosive to aluminum and electrical circuits. CO2 does not have this affect however it tends to leave the possibility of reignition in class A fires. class D extinguishers are used for combustible metals such as magnesium and titanium. water actually cools rather than smothers. and one more thing, get the hell out and then call 911. glad to hear your ok and hope this helps .
Glad you made it out ok...but you should have listened to your boy! I don't keep a garden hose for fires...as the firefighters have pointed out..they can do more harm than good in a "OH SHI'ITE!!" moment. I keep rechargeable fire extinguishers--8 of them spread out all over--and one 25lb pail of baking soda near the 'hot' end of my shop where all the 220v outlets and welders are. I have found that baking soda will put out anything caught quickly and cleans up very easily. I make sure the bucket is close by during motor installs and 'first start ups' as well. The extinguishers are expensive, the baking soda is cheap. My life is irreplaceable...at least to me!! Hmmm....wonder how hard it would be to put it a sprinkler system........
Yet another story to reinforce the importence of having a fully charged fire extinguisher on hand at all times when working on or driving in old cars. Glad you wern't hurt.
sounds like luck was on your side,your telling the story about your misadventure. i have heard of companies that go into retail stores that sell clothes after fires and to get rid of the fire smell they use machines called ionizers. i have heard of fire depts. using them also. something to check into.
Hey Engine Pro, did those arrive with your new computer? That nice black one you showed last night? And I like the Cool Shit #54, A true dual purpose tool. Great for getting gear oil off the rear brake lining, too. Frank
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