My neighbors house is on fire!

[GrassGuerilla]

No kidding. We live in a pretty rural area, the house two doors up (about half a mile) is currently on fire. I counted 14 fire trucks. They set up a "reservoir" (swimming pool looking thang). Trucks were lined up to pump and or transfer water. They were shooting foam in the windows.

I noticed a week or so ago that they had a SMOKY fire going in one of their chimneys. No word yet on the cause of the fire, but from my earlier observation we can guess the likelihood. Nobody was home, except the family dogs. They were in the house.

Point of this thread... Clean your chimney, and have it inspected by an expert.

I snapped a couple pics of it smoking but,
1) it doesn't seem appropriate to post such a pic.
2) no real dramatic flames or anything anyway.

I'll post more info as it develops.

 

[Patrick62]

Flames. I like to watch the flames...

I would not wish that on anybody. Holiday season and all, now the damn house catches fire.:msp_scared:
Help 'em if you can. with that many firemen it is probably a serious situation!

I think my pipes are clean....

 

[Dalmatian90]

Can't say it's not it...but usually folks are home when a chimney fire gets going. It's when they have a flaming fire and/or embers going up that provides the "spark" to ignite the creosote. Fires just puttering away during the day aren't near as likely to light 'em off.

Partition fires, where a space in the wall gets ignited, are much less predictable. They'll tend to light off seemingly randomly because it's an accumulated amount of heat that's been degrading the wood to the point it'll ignite at a relatively low temperature.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

Some good news.

Turns out one of their dogs was not home. Other dog (R.I.P. Buttercup) still unaccounted for.

Cause of fire was electrical. Sub-panel in basement appears to be the source.

Fire dept did a great job. His RV was right next to his house, no damage to it. House is likely a total loss, including everything in it. Parts of the first floor fell into the basement, burned through the roof in a couple spots.

 

[D&B Mack]

Turns out one of their dogs was not home. Other dog (R.I.P. Buttercup) still unaccounted for.

Cause of fire was electrical. Sub-panel in basement appears to be the source.

Fire dept did a great job. His RV was right next to his house, no damage to it. House is likely a total loss, including everything in it. Parts of the first floor fell into the basement, burned through the roof in a couple spots.

That really sucks. My brother lost his house to a chimney fire. He did everything the way you are supposed to, just had a crack form over winter (the chimney inspector still had the video and it wasn't their prior), burned seasoned wood, etc. Was nearly a total loss, half the house lost too fire, remainder of the house was gutted due to smoke and water damage. Luckily, he had a good adjuster that helped him out at every turn. No lives were lost (human or animal).

 

[rmount]

Good that everyone is safe.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

I would not wish that on anybody. Holiday season and all, now the damn house catches fire.:msp_scared:
Help 'em if you can. with that many firemen it is probably a serious situation!

I think my pipes are clean....

The house was going pretty good, biggest problem they had to deal with was lack of available water. Only wells in the area, no hydrants.

 

[allstihl]

in 89 i looked out the back door and said oh s... the shop is on fire. total loss. killer was that id just finished buildind it 2 weeks ago.wouldnt wish that on anyone

 

[shawnw]

Honestly there isn't a single structure in the world I'd care about losing. ANYTHING can be rebuilt, but you absolutely cannot replace a member of the family. I'd be destroyed if I lost my dog.

RIP for that little guy.

 

[mitch95100]

we had our shed burn down when i was a kid. Pissed me off more than anything. We were due to leave for the state fair the next day

 

[blades]

Few years back, dog woke me due a bunch of commotion outside, which then got worse, trailer kitty corner to mine went up in flames, Electrical short was cause, no one hurt. Same deal as above swimming pool type thing set up for pumper to draw from while tankers kept filling it. Total loss. Trailer court no hydrants. Sold out of there as soon as I could after that.

 

[chaikwa]

Honestly there isn't a single structure in the world I'd care about losing. ANYTHING can be rebuilt, but you absolutely cannot replace a member of the family. I'd be destroyed if I lost my dog.

I'm with you on that thought.

I'm a big proponent of residential sprinkler systems. Not so much for existing houses, but for new construction and extensive remodels. The house referred to in this post more than likely would have been saved had a sprinkler system been in place.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

About a year ago I was driving through town and spotted am old guy in his yard holding a garden hose (in November) and staring at his chimney. I could see flames coming out of the top, and a huge amount of smoke -- obviously a chimney fire!

I pulled over and called 911 and waited for the volunteer FD to show up. They went on the roof and in the attic, and found that it was confined to the inside of the chimney and put it out by spraying water down the chimney. The owner never seemed all that concerned, and I didn't even tell him I had called (he had not). The FD guys thanked me for calling --- saying that they would much rather check something out at this stage than after the roof is burning. They didn't give me a gold Fire Chief star though :msp_sad:

 

[GeeVee]

Bummer for your neighbor. At least it was not something he might have done wrong.

I too would put in a residential fire sprinkler system if I ever built myself a new home. Its not expensive, and you might get your money back in five to ten years with insurance savings.

RIP FurBuddy

 

[stihly dan]

Sprinklers, BS. That is for insurance co cost. Not to save lives. A burnt down house gets rebuilt 10 time's better. As long as there is no injuries, let it burn to nothing, don't try to put it out. Let the ins do what you pay them for and get a new house.

 

[chaikwa]

The FD guys thanked me for calling --- saying that they would much rather check something out at this stage than after the roof is burning. They didn't give me a gold Fire Chief star though :msp_sad:

If it'll make you feel any better, I can give you a shiny sticker that looks like a badge and says 'Fire Chief' on it! :msp_tongue:

I too would put in a residential fire sprinkler system if I ever built myself a new home. Its not expensive, and you might get your money back in five to ten years with insurance savings.

Yep, you are correct. Not at ALL expensive. I'm putting in a system in a barn I'm converting to living quarters.

 

[rmount]

Sprinklers, BS. That is for insurance co cost. Not to save lives. A burnt down house gets rebuilt 10 time's better. As long as there is no injuries, let it burn to nothing, don't try to put it out. Let the ins do what you pay them for and get a new house.

Yea, but - if the sprinkler puts out a fire in the kitchen when you're in the bedroom, maybe not a bad investment.

 

[Mac88]

A lot of old houses burn down due to electrical fires. Inadequate ancient wiring or improper re-wiring, overloaded circuits (plug-in heaters, appliances, etc), christmas lights, and on and on. I've seen some things in older houses that, wiring-wise, scared me to death. The house we own was wired by an idiot, and added to by someone not must smarter when it came to wiring. I've ripped out a bunch of circuits and rewired numerous others to make sure things were safe.

 

[chaikwa]

Sprinklers, BS. That is for insurance co cost. Not to save lives. A burnt down house gets rebuilt 10 time's better. As long as there is no injuries, let it burn to nothing, don't try to put it out. Let the ins do what you pay them for and get a new house.

"As long as there are no injuries"... so why DO people get injured or killed in house fires? Seems to me there must be plenty of time to get out of a burning house, right?

 

[Dalmatian90]

Sprinklers, BS. That is for insurance co cost. Not to save lives. A burnt down house gets rebuilt 10 time's better. As long as there is no injuries, let it burn to nothing, don't try to put it out. Let the ins do what you pay them for and get a new house.

Sprinklers are primarily a life safety system.

Half of all people killed in fires start off impaired in their ability to escape -- they're handicapped, or they're children, or elderly.

Of the able-bodied adults who are killed a large number (probably most) of them are temporarily impaired -- i.e. drunk or high.

Once you're down to sober adults who are killed, I don't know the statistic but I have an educated guess a sizeable percentage are parents who escaped and then are killed trying to rescue their still trapped kids -- especially when they're killed at single family residences in suburban/rural areas.

But hey, as long as you have perfect ESP to know when the fire will happen or Scotty standing by to beam your family out, feel free to think they're meant to save replaceable property.