I've actually faught a fire caused by a soldering iron making contact with a non-fire resistant cloth I used to clean up my work area. It was about 2ft high, and a foot wide. It surprisingly didn't mar the table surface. So, no, it didn't set the table on fire. (1950's fancy 8 person wooden dining room table) due to a teflon mat on which all rests. But, I can say the mess is woth the savings; but only slightly worse than the (okay I can't joke about that). Tom's directive is how it seems I interacted with the event.
On Mon, 1 Dec 2008, Bill Stephan wrote: > > tom, I've actually thought about doing this, but haven't gotten around to it. > Maybe I'll give the public affairs lads at the fire department a call anmd > see if there's any interest or willingness. > > > > > Bill Stephan, > Kansas City MO > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone: (816)803-2469 > > -original message- > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Using fire extinguishers as a bat > From: Tom Fowle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 12/01/2008 14:23 > > Hi all. > this may be old hat to some of you experienced folks, but I found the > following interesting. > > I'd always wanted to really try using an extinguisher on a "real" fire. I > wanted to have some idea if I might stand a chance of doing usefull fire > fighting if i drop my soldering iron on a pile of paper or some such. > > However I didn't want to set up a test without professional help just in > case things should get out of hand. > > I found that a niece's new boy friend is a professional fire fighter. When > I met Joe last year, almost the first thing I asked him after a little > introductory chatter was whether he might set up a test fire somewhere and > suggest an extinguisher for me to try. > > This was a year ago and I' hadn't seen Joe since. > > This thanksgiving, we went to my brother's 5 acre place in the country and > Joe was there. I hadn't mentioned my request over the year and figured if > he was interested, he'd bring it up. I wasn't going to ask again. > > Almost the first thing i heard was " Tom I've got an extinguisher for you." > > So, Friday afternoon, we went out to the middle of a gravel coverred area > and Joe got hold of an old cardboard box and a heap of waiste paper. He > really wanted to add a mix of gasoline and diesel, but everyone else thought > that was going a bit far. > > He had an out of date "dry chemical" extinguisher, the type with a pair of > handles you squeeze together and a 1 foot hose you aim at the fire. > > After the fire was going well enough I could readilly feel it from a few > feet away, I held the extinguisher in my left hand, and followed his > instructions. > > they suggest a memory trick using "PASS" > Pull, Aim, Squeeze Sweep. > > Pull, means pull the safety pin, a rod with a circular ring at one end that > goes through the top handle of the extinguisher and keeps it from being > squeezed down when not in use. > > Aim, of course means take the end of the little hose and aim it at the base > of the fire. > > Squeeze, press the two handles together. > > Sweep, means sweep the stream of chemical back and forth across the fire. > > My experience suggests that moving in a flattened oval so the stream moves > "up and down" a bit as well as across where you think the fire is, may be a > good bet if you can't see the flames at all. > > Not surprisingly, I had little trouble knocking this relatively minor fire > down. Joe had me stop firing several times while he stirred up the fire > again to give me several tries. > > I did have the tendency to knock over the box with the stream of chemical, > but this would probably not happen in a more real world situation. One might > think about whether you might blow burning material away and spread a fire > with a strong stream of stuff. This would further encourage me to believe > in the vertical oval movement strategy. > > In a real fire situation, you don't stop spraying your extinguisher's > contents till the thing is empty. Even if you're pretty sure the fire is > out, the policy is to empty the device just to be sure. > > Of course any test like this can't be totally real,, it was controlled and I > knew what was going to be burned and where. And, of course I wasn't in a > panic. However I believe I at least found i may be able to knock down a > fire to the extent that I should consider trying an extinguisher if one is > available. > > Of course there a lot of other strategies to fire fighting depending on > what's burning, E.G. if it's a grease fire in a pan, just putting a lid on > the pan may be enough to do the job. > > |Dryy chemical extinguishers are good for most fires, the disadvantage of > these types is that they leave a powdery mess over everything. > > [CO2 carbondioxide extinguishers are good for most fires but of course > do realease a quantity of co2 into the atmosphere. I don't know of other > disadvantages of this type. > > There are pressurized water units but they should never be used on > electrical, grease or flamable liquid fires, so probably aren't a good bet. > > Hailon is expensive, as are it's new substitutes, and are good for almost > all fires, but one must be carefull to get out of the way of the cloud of > gas since it makes breathing impossible. > > I'd suggest, if you work with anything that might go wrong and cause a fire, > that you may want to meet a friendly fireman and set up a similar test for > your selves just so you'll have a feel for how it all goes. > > Everyone with a home containing a kitchen should have, and maintain, an > appropriate extinguisher where you can get at it. Contact your local fire > fighters to find out what local code says is appropriate for you. > > Of course if you have a fire, whether you try fighting it your self or not, > call the local fire department. Even if you think it's out, you want > professional help to be sure there is no way it could spread and something > you didn't catch is still going. > > Hope this encourages you to try something for your selves and learn more > about what you can do. > > Besides, since I had a pro on hand, it was fun and helped build a good > connection with a possible future family member. > > tom Fowle > > >
