# How many time you seen a fire???



## 3KP (Jun 19, 2008)

My first fire involvement:
At this point in time of my life of this stroy! I was into plumbing for 9 years working for a big outfit company. I had this guy working with me name (bone head) That company had us put spray foam under all the tubs. (getto in my opinion, concrete is the way to go) I was crawled under the back side of a soaker tub spraying the foam and this bone head starts the torch to sweat the deck mount on. Before I could get NO out of my mouth BOOM! burned all the hair off my face. :furious: I want ed to kick the  out of him.

My second fire involvement:
Same bone head with in the same month. I was in the crawl space running the drains. The heatman comes down to the crawl entrance and said very settle the house is on fire. I didn't believe him (do to always playing pranks on each other) I said what ever! he said seriously it on fire! still is a calm voice so I thought he was kidding. I got close to where the I/M was at I saw an orange light glowing. I hopped out and sure enough it was a blazing. I couldn't find the fire exstingisher that is spose to be in the house. So I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and ran down to the sump pit and scooped up some water to throw on the fire. ( I got it put out) Bone head want on a stroll to the bath room and took the fire exstingisher out with him to the truck because he was done sweating copper. He claims it wasn't on fire when he left?  Shortly after that I had him removed from my truck!

What storys do you have? about fire safety?


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

Knock on wood I have not had any. I usually will keep a small spray bottle filled with water with me for that. Its easier to carry than a fire extinguisher, and just a few squirts sets the joint for me when I need it too.


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## 22rifle (Jun 14, 2008)

At the end of a 14 hour day, no lunch, no breaks, (major cold snap, solid day of emergency calls) last stop was lighting a furnace for the first time. (Old mobile home had been moved to a new spot, new gas line to tank, I had just got done testing the line and was ready to light the furnace.) Removed one end of flex to bleed air. Stuffy nose so I bent down close, got the gas smell and shut off the service valve. Reconnected the flex and open valve again. Waited about 5 minutes to let the gas dissipate. Lit my lighter to light the furnace.

BOOM!

I had missed tightening the nut on the flex when i reconnected it. It had been bleeding gas the whole time and because of my stuffy nose I did not catch it. If I had checked for leaks on the fitting I had messed with I would have caught it too.

Lesson? Lunch and breaks are there for a reason. At the end of a long, brutal day I got careless.

My carelessness put me in the hospital overnight. You can still see evidence on my hands and nose.

The damage to the trailer was extensive. Blew out the window in the hallway, blew out the door in the hallway, ruined the rug, and caught the curtains on fire.

They had just returned from town with a new door and new curtains. Earlier that day they had placed an order for new windows the whole way around. In two days the guys were coming to lay new carpet. 

I got LUCKY!

BTW, I got an injection of Demerol at the hospital. I was sitting there as the nurse injected me, asking when it would take effect, when it hit me. I just relaxed back into my chair. The relief hit me before she withdrew the needle. The pain had been crazy.

I had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns on my face and hands. 

NEVER, EVER slack off in safety!


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## 22rifle (Jun 14, 2008)

Then there was the time I was soldering a joint in a wall. They had opened the wall half ways up. Some kind of crazy old insulation in the walls. Pushed it all out of the way and did my soldering. I sprayed the insulation with my spray bottle before I started.

The folded up insulation unfolded and fell down into my flame before I could react. The flame hit some insulation I had not sprayed down and WHOOF, there was a serious fire going right there.

No water besides my spray bottle, the water was off because I was soldering. And it was burning up inside that wall. I yanked sheetrock off with bare hands, yanked out bulk of insulation and threw it in driveway, then used spray bottle and shoes to extinguish the rest. I would have used fire extinguisher if I needed but it was a fine home with tons of antiques and I hated to unless I needed to.

Scared crap out of me.


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

man, hope you are alright. Thats why I hate to fool with gas. I had 3rd degree burns up the back o my leg once, got blown up by a 20 gallon gas tank that was full. Doctors gave me morphine!


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## 22rifle (Jun 14, 2008)

The furnace deal was 2 months before my wedding. I had very short hair at my wedding!


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

22rifle said:


> The furnace deal was 2 months before my wedding. I had very short hair at my wedding!


:laughing: I heard that!
Glad you are ok though, we need all the plumbers we can get!


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

When I worked for my last company a few years back, we installed 3 compact boilers in on a new build. Two start up guys were there to fire up the boliers. We had just gotten the gas tied into the main that day. Me and my buddy had piped the 1 1/2 lines into the boliers a few weeks prior. So the start up guys had alot of gas to bleed. The main coming into the mechanical room was 4" and we tapped off with 3 drops of 1 1/2. There was open space in the ceiling of the room which caused a draft. They broke a union smooth down and couldnt even smell the gas. It was getting pushed into the main building. One of them walked outside and BOOM! The gas ignited and blew one of the start up guys againest the back wall. Completly knocked down an adjacent wall and burned every square inch of insulation off all the chilled and heating water lines. Burnt two commerical water heaters up and two chilled water pumps plus the air handler. The guy that got hit with it had severe burns on his face and chest. Skin was falling off and everything. He is lucky and he survived. Stayed in the burn unit for a couple of months...... The culprit (on top of lack of judgement) A shorted out electrical flex that fed power to the boilers. It did some seriuos damage. It sounded like a bomb went off..... It was on a college campus and they started evacuating students because they thought WW3 was going down in there back yard..... Gas is dangerous.... But you have to respect it, or it will get you


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

I was doing some carpentry work once when a plumber (Not mine) had started a fire, he ran out and grabed a container that the painters left there with some brush's in it and threw it on the fire, needles to say, it was paint thinner! WOW all we heard was a WOOF! luckily the other plumber had some old towells and got it out before any damage could be done. That was scary!


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## 3KP (Jun 19, 2008)

22rifle
I rename you Fire Cracker! J/k I'm glad your still alive n kicking


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

3Kings Plumbing said:


> 22rifle
> I rename you Fire Cracker! J/k I'm glad your still alive n kicking


Sounds good, I second that name:laughing:
serious, burns are no fun. When I had 3rd degree burns on my legs I had to learn to walk all over again because after so long with the brain shutting the nervous system down so you dont feel so much pain, the brain forgets how to control it, so you need to start over. No fun, I know.


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

Most of the jobs we do you can't even get the lumber to burn.


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## 22rifle (Jun 14, 2008)

I have never started a fire with soldering except for that highly flammable insulation deal I just talked about.

But I always carry a spray bottle when soldering plus a piece of sheet metal.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Thought about buying a flame guard for my torch.... but I think Ill just stick with the watter bottle.


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## 3KP (Jun 19, 2008)

I'v never started a fire either just teh Bone head the worked wit me for a short while. I have a small fire exstingisher (like the one you put under the kitchen cabinet) We don't really sweat a whole lot these days. The only time I sweat something is to install stops on a finish or pex adapters on copper stub outs.


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## threaderman (Jun 17, 2008)

I have lit a wtr.htr. that still had some gas in the combustion chamber.That took care of all facial hair trimming for a long time,having no eye -brows sucks!!
And I also have had insulation un-roll on me in the wall where I've had to yank it out in a hurry,not a good thing.I heard of a guy who did that but there was a nail in the wall and when he grabbed for the insulation he ripped his forearm muscle top to bottom when it caught on the nail.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Dang... I know that hurt! Ive been fortunate. Knock on wood, just a little sheatrock torching is it so far. I can tell you I will never do what those start up guys did on those boilers. I saw it first hand, and I want no part of that....


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## 3KP (Jun 19, 2008)

*in 2004*

In 04 a guy got 3 degree burns al over his body. He was using one of those mapp tank torches to sweat some fittings. (Oh this is a 2nd rough) He heard the tank like hissing at him so he through it down out of fear and BOOM!! it exploded and caught the flex duct work on fire and it was melting on to him. His crew leader froze and just watched the horror. The Mexican roofing crew threw their 5 gallon jug of ??? on him to put him out. He lived took him 6-8 month to recover! He got a fat law suit and went out and bought a new Harley.


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

dang. feel sorry for him. That plastic melting really burns.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

No joke.....


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

Thats right, no joke. Just a tip for all. This did not happen while plumbing, but 4 times I got cocky and let my guard down just for an instant and almost paid the ultimate price. You should always, and I mean always proceed with caution. Think the worst. This way you will be prepared. Act like you expect an accident to happen. Accidents happen so quick, there is no time to react. Last thing any of us need is to explain to a spouse why their spouse is not coming home for dinner.


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## 22rifle (Jun 14, 2008)

Guys, there's a lot of stuff I am proud of. But the stuff I wrote about on here? Not proud of it at all.

I only tell the stories to help us all be aware and be safe. This stuff can kill you. We think we are pros and we are. But all it takes is one moment of not paying attention to screw up a whole lot of crap, not to mention lives.

These days I am a hard ass on myself for safety. Life is too short.


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

Ok, back to the lighter side. Safety is no joke but I have to tell this story. No one got hurt.

I was as green as you could be (less than 6 months in trade) and I was working in res new con (garden home tract housing). At the time there was no burn ban in the county so the superintendant over the development had his flunkies gather up all the construction debris from each house and then he would burn it so he didn't have to pay to have it hauled off. Well this pile would get pretty big and it would have everything in it not just wood scrap. There would be roofing shingles, plastic bottles, buckets, you name it. 
Well invariably he would come torch this stuff off whenever our crew was in the house working. The wind would blow that toxic, roiling, smoke right into the house with us. I got tired of this so one day after the smoke started rolling in I went outside and hooked up a hose to the temp water and started hosing it down to put it out. Well I really only made the smoke worse, ... a lot worse, but I didn't care because nobody could work in there with that fire going 10' from the house. It never seemed too smart to me to burn the debris that close to the house but that's what they did. Anyway within about 2 minutes the super got the news about a lot of smoke down the street. He looks down the street and sees me standing there with a hose aimed at his fire. You could here him screaming from 100 yards away at the top of his lungs. Lots of very unnice things to which I took exception. I was sick of the smoke and was prepared to rumble if need be. There was lots of shouting from both sides. At a certain point I realized that almost everyone else who had been working on the street had assembled to witness what was going on. After the super had sufficeintly vented and went on his way the laughter started. Almost nobody on that street called me by my name from that day forward. From then on I was simply known as the Fire Marshall.


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## grandpa (Jul 13, 2008)

*who do you call!*

If you do have a fire, help is on the way:


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## threaderman (Jun 17, 2008)

grandpa said:


> If you do have a fire, help is on the way:


Excellent!!


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## Marlin (Aug 14, 2008)

I almost did it two weeks ago. I soldered a joint close to another pipe which was insulated with that asbestos cardboard stuff. I used a piece of flue pipe and kept the flame from even touching the metal. Five minutes later I smell something burning. I'm looking around and finally I see the insulation smoking in a spot. I grabbed a spray bottle, soak it, took down that section of insulation then just kept an eye on it the rest of the day. I still have no idea how I could have lit the insulation behind the torch, fortunately it was just a lesson to be careful and not a disaster.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Duct insulation is bad as well. The outside will flame up and you can put it out but it will burn on the inside as well withough you even knowing it.... I know from experience:whistling2:


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## TheSkinnyGuy (Sep 15, 2009)

Bill said:


> Knock on wood I have not had any. I usually will keep a small spray bottle filled with water with me for that. Its easier to carry than a fire extinguisher, and just a few squirts sets the joint for me when I need it too.


 
that's right, I keep the spray bottle with me, and if the occasion/location merits it I get some cooling gel as well. I cannot afford to have any fires on ANY of my jobs. Not very professional.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

I don't know how many of you work on modular or prefab houses, but if you do watch out for that mesh netting that they use to hold the insulation up under the floor joist. One swipe with a torch and you have a fire going in about one thousand different directions. It happened to me but luckily I was able to rip it out before it spread to far, but you have to be quick.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Two buildings burnt down up here a few winters ago trying to thaw frozen water lines. Both were drunk using propane torches. Both happen during same week.
Only if they were not so DIY drunk and stupid they should have called. My General hot shot would have taken care of it without them burning down their buildings.

Never had a fire I carry a small fire extinguisher with me, wet rag and a spray bottle of water in my soldering box you never know what can happen better to be safe.


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## Pipedoc (Jun 14, 2009)

I had to replace a sillcock once from a crawlspace. Actually the house had a full basement exept for the mud room which was on a crawl. Access to the crawl was from the basement. 

I sent my apprentice in to do the work while I passed him tools from the crawlspace opening. It just never dawned on me until he lit the torch. Faster than I could yell for him to turn the torch off, the fire started. 

The exhaust for the dryer that dropped in to the crawl and exited the house through the joist bay was disassembled and there was a layer of lint over everything. The flame spread around the crawlspace in nothing flat. 

I never new my apprentice could move so fast!

Luckily the flame consumed all of the lint so fast that the fire ended as fast as it started. 

I was definately lucky. I seen my busisness flash before my eyes that day!

I absolutely will not allow anyone to bring a torch in a house without a fire extinguisher. I tell my guys if you don't like it you can go plumb for someone else. We also use the flame retardant spray. :thumbsup:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Never had an incident yet and good lord willing hope I never do...

Laugh all you want but I really don't do a whole lot of pipe sweating in service a shower valve replacement probably being the most. Even a pex repipe is only sweating on a few adapters. So I do most of my sweating with a little Mapp gas handheld trigger torch.

I carry my soldering kit in a bucket and a part of that kit that is present on every job is the fire extinguisher. The torch won't light until the gauge on the extinguisher has been checked!:thumbup:
Also in the kit is a water spray bottle, cool gel, and a fire proof mat, and they get used!:yes:

Some of you use stove pipe and I question its effectiveness as to how a red hot piece of tin stops heat from getting to the other side...
Heat conduction is a very real phenomena!

Maybe I'm overboard or, maybe not...
I spent 26 years as a volunteer firefighter and the last thing I ever want to do is explain to my firefighter buddies how I burned a house down...

Fire is a serious thing and I'll treat it that way always!

Time for a story...
This is about a fire that I was sent to a few years ago.
3 story wood frame assisted living for senior citizens...
Not a nursing home these people live in their own apartments but there is a dining room, bus, laundry service, nurses on premises etc.
3 wings of 3 stories connected in the center by a common area containing the office, dining, rec area etc.
Plumber working in one of the wings thawing pipes with a torch caught paper backed insulation on fire wit the fire traveling rapidly up the wall and across the attic of the common area. Fast and hot the fire alarm sounded for less than 30 seconds before the fire disabled the entire system. Fortunately a rapid response by a large number of fire fighters from our town and 2 neighboring towns per pre-fire planning brought about successful evacuation of the building and control of the fire with no injuries. What if this had happened in the daytime when our response of manpower was hampered by many of our department members working out of town. The potential was very high for disaster here.

This picture shows the wing involved in the fire and the common area is the one story section on the right side of the picture barely visible.


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## tnoisaw (Jun 16, 2009)

The tread I started yesterday goes with this so I will not repeat myself.

But, there was a time when I was working with the master plumber. He told me to turn the gas back on at the meter. He was finishing some sweat joints. We both forgot a dirt leg that was close to the area he was working. I turned it on and evidently it caused quit a flash. I heard him screaming to turn the gas off. I went back down stairs and he passes me going up scared to death.

Off course, he blamed me. What ever. He was not hurt, just shaken.


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## JK949 (Mar 18, 2009)

In California we have stucco houses. Underneath stucco is a layer of tar paper that is some seriously flammable stuff. How fire-rated drywall is required in garages under living space but the whole house wrapped in tar paper is ok is beyond me.

I always have a spray bottle, torch guard, cool gel and extinguisher available. After getting a self-igniting torch, I will not go back to multi-turns, especially for attics, and cabinets. Being able to instantly cut off the mapp gas saves precious seconds to get a situation back in control.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

A.C. filters go up like gasoline. I was replacing a low boy electric water heater along time ago under an A.C unit. I fired my torch off to heat the relief line's MIP adaper to remove it. BAM a big flash and poof. It was all over before i even had a chance to get upset. Scared the hell outta me after the fact. I had removed one filter....but there was a second one I couldn't see without standing on my head....well my torch found it.:laughing: Hey alot of people dont realize that a fire can smolder for a day or two and then ignite into a full blaze. A good piece of advice is to open the wall up so you have enough room to see what's in the space your using your torch. Its not any harder to patch a 2x2 hole as it is a 1x1 hole in sheetrock IMO.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

I did a side job fixing a frozen copper line in a knee wall area on a 2nd floor. I didnt know how insulation would ignite until the torched hit it. I started beating it with my hands while it spread which is when I started looking for my escape route. I gave it one last frantic beating and got it under control. Told the customer if they smelled smoke not to worry just a little insulation. A painful lesson.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Back in the day... I was working in Dallas. Scuttle holes are inside the closet. It was common practice amoung plumbers to choke the O2 down on your presto-lite handle and you had bright light! Torch was handy so I stuck my head down in the hole , rolled over a little bit and lit the torch. Well the dryer vent was dumping under the house and BOOM!...Flashed all at once..It exploded. Burnt hair, eye lashes blew my hat off. You get the picture..Did not do that again....EVER.


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## RealLivePlumber (Jun 22, 2008)

I have been lucky so far. Triple check everything, and when your absolutley sure, check it again. Still it is a bad feeling when you've just left a job, stop to eat lunch, and a fire truck rolls by, with lights and sirens!

I was once replacing a shower faucet. Told the HO I had to cut an access hole in the hallway wall. She says how big. I tell her about 16" wide, and 2 feet high, give or take. She says "why so big, cant you make a smaller hole?"

My response "Listen lady, either I cut the hole now with a utility knife, or the fireman will cut it later, with an axe!"

OK, she says.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

slickrick said:


> Back in the day... I was working in Dallas. Scuttle holes are inside the closet. It was common practice amoung plumbers to choke the O2 down on your presto-lite handle and you had bright light! Torch was handy so I stuck my head down in the hole , rolled over a little bit and lit the torch. Well the dryer vent was dumping under the house and BOOM!...Flashed all at once..It exploded. Burnt hair, eye lashes blew my hat off. You get the picture..Did not do that again....EVER.


 I would do that when i used a B tank,choke the air off and turn it into a lantern.....works great:yes:


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## tnoisaw (Jun 16, 2009)

I talked about mine on another post. I ripped out burning insulation with my hand that I caught on fire with my torch. I went to the burn unit with insulation melted on my hand but luckily no damage. Just minor burns.


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## AKdaplumba (Jan 12, 2010)

One of my companies site, someone burned down the building. After they rebuilt it it was tight security. Someone was unhappy with the development. Because the day before they tried and failed.


My co-worker went to mess with his landlords furnace and it blew up in his face. He was in a medically induced coma. One week later he passed away.

I always have a bucket of water with me.


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

All you need is heat/ fuel/ air. One time I was soldering in a basement of an old house and a fire broke out about 10 ft away in the wall on the main floor. The little girl was yelling there is fire coming out of the wall. well I ran like hell up stairs and kicked the wall in. The wall was full of saw dust and had ignited from the heat of my torch. Luckly I got it out. Scared the SH!T OUT OF ME


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