Fiiiiiire!

[SurlySeraph]

My dryer just caught on fire. Like, about an hour ago. It's out now, with no permanent injuries to any of my family. However, I don't have quite as much clothing as I used to.

Thank God we had lots of buckets around. Thank God my dad was in the room when it lit up, so he could tell us something was happening. Thank God our superintendent was awake and had a fire extinguisher. Thank God the firemen showed up so fast to confirm that we'd gotten it out.

I learned some very interesting and useful things, though.

First: if I hear one family member yelling to another family member about fire and I smell smoke, I will not assume that the family member being called for is the only one who should act.

Second: getting water is more important than revising a Latin essay, keeping my room neat, or not scattering trash around.

Third: smoke inhalation sucks. A lot. It hurts your throat more than you'd think, it burns your eyes, your spit turns gray, and did I mention how much your throat hurts?

Fourth: smoke is hard to see through. Like, really hard to see through. You can't tell where you're going or if anything's in your way. And the eye-burning only makes that worse.

Fifth: becoming hyperactive later does not compensate for not reacting quickly when you need to. "For every thing there is a season..."

So. That's me. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them before?

[Icewalker]

That sounds like all really good advice...glad you are safe. Sounds like it could be bad. Not much damage, beyond the dryer I hope?

[Bitzeralisis]

No. But fires are cool. :smallbiggrin: :smalltongue:

[The Extinguisher]

My school's library caught on fire once. But that's about it.

[Mauve Shirt]

My sister destroyed our microwave by turning it on when she meant to be using the timer. And we were using it as a breadbox, so it caught on fire and the plastic melted and the kitchen was filled with fumes. Oh, and she called my mom on her cell phone and was like "OH MY GOD I THINK THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!" and that got us all panicky 'cause we were at the store. :P

Your fire sounds 10 times as dangerous yet awesome.

[SurlySeraph]

@Icewalker: I don't really know yet, but I don't think so. There was very little around the dryer that could have been burned, though my entire apartment is going to smell like smoke for some time. The bad thing is that I have three fish tanks in the room where the dryer was. I haven't checked (I want to wait until absolutely all the smoke has cleared), but I don't think smoke is very good for them. :smallfrown:

@Bitz: That's what I thought. That was before I had to deal with a fire somewhere that fire is not supposed to be.

[Raider]

Our basement caught, we had to motel it for 2 weeks.

Glad everyone's ok!

[Jae]

Although I burn myself a lot (a LOT) never quite had such an experience.

I once did, however, put aluminum foil in the microwave. Uhmyah. It basically 'SPLODED and my mom was just kind of like "how in the world do you not know to put METAL in the microwave?" and "why are you so absent minded?!"

If they want you to remember its metal they shouldn't make it all bendy. Other metals hardly bend.

Yeaaah I lack common sense sometimes. :smallconfused:

[Haruki-kun]

Our car caught on fire once. Many years ago. On New Year's.

But it was controlled. It was an old car, so it cuased some sort of Short circuit. I thought it might have been some stray fire-cracker, but it was a short-circuit.

[Zakama]

Once win I was little I put a bag of bread with a twist-tie in the microwave and the whole thing flamed up. When I stopped the microwave the fire stopped and everything was fine, but being the age I was, I was pretty shaken. Looking back on it now though, I think it was kinda cool.

[Jagg]

Um sort of?

I used to work in hotels, one night while on graveyard shift an oil/electrical fire started in one of the kitchens.

300 Rooms
about 380 guests
2 in the morning

Lessons

1) Most tall buildings have fire escapes which are pressurized with large fans that draw in air (to prevent the fire from getting in) it also prevents little old ladies from getting in the fire escape as you have to slam your shoulder against the door REALLY FREAKING HARD to get the door open. Sore shoulder owies.

2) Most fire escapes don't get cleaned and are a quite place for someone to bunk off for a quick cigarette. Add high pressure fans and pressure differentials from doors being opened and you feel like you are in a duststorm.

3) I don't like fat bald 45 year olds that take sleeping tablets when in a hotel who make you slip a disc when carrying them down 12 flights of stairs.

4) To the geologist who wouldn't leave without his bag (which funnily enough was full of ROCKS). Your $300 tip wasn't enough to carry that freaking thing down 12 flights of stairs.

5) Princess I DON'T care if you are nekkid, you are one floor away from the fire you have to leave now and I have a master key. You have two seconds to get decent before I walk in there and drag you out by the hair and THROW you down the fire escape.

6) Congratulations on your wedding, I'm sorry but we can't take that huge pile of presents with us. (But I'll give you two seconds to grab your wedding dress)

7)To my boss who rocked up after it was all over and me battered and bruised after slamming open fire doors, checking 300 rooms for occupants, liasing with fire department, slipping disks and generally having the worst two hours of my life.... Trying to cheer me up by saying "Some night eh" meant you came very close to having your front teeth knocked out. A**hat.

[Ganurath]

One time a Roman Candle fell over after it got lit during fourth of July and started shooting at the neighbors next door. Good times...

[Bitzeralisis]

@Bitz: That's what I thought. That was before I had to deal with a fire somewhere that fire is not supposed to be.

Meh. I hardly get myself into any physical trouble. I am pretty young in comparison to all you though, so the yearly dice-roll hasn't succeeded yet and caused some sort of disastrous event in my general area. I'm pretty sure all the stuff at my house is safe. Except, of course, for the fault lines some miles from it, and the looming possibility of a large earthquake. But truthfully, it's really my attitude towards specific things that causes me to get in situations...

[vivi]

I once put toast in the micro wave, it didn't end well...

[Icewalker]

What's up with all the stories involving bread in the microwave?

[KindaChang]

I'll switch it up: Pretzels in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes. I did not know pretzels were THAT flammable.

[GrassyGnoll]

When we first got our microwave I wasn't sure how the readout worked. Accidentally nuked some milk for an hour and a half, it was barely classifiable as milk after that.

Occasionally random foodstuffs will explode in our microwave: curry, mole, anything saucy. It puzzles me to no end.

[FoE]

I just came from a fire! I heard on the scanner that there was a storage shed on fire down the street, so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots. Not exactly the story of the year, but the flames were bright and it made for a nice photo.

[Squidmaster]

One time I was camping and it was very windy. The campfire fire was blowing eveywhere and i was about 5 inches from it. Needless to say, It didnt end well. Worst of all, I was 7 years old and paniced.

[Serpentine]

Surly: Had you been emptying the lint filter? I'm told that can cause fires.
...bit late now, but still.

Fire stories... Not much. Not much involving flames, anyway. I'm short a cousin or two because of a fire (pardon the flippancy, but it was sometime before I was born), but I haven't experienced much m'self...

[Mattarias, King.]

My dishwasher was on fire once. :smalleek:

It was full of water at the time.

Yyeaahh..

Edit: Yes, we got a new one. Some new dishes too.

Edit 2: Phoenix brought something to mind- don't scanners just scan in drawings and stuff to your computer..? :smallconfused: Or is this completely different subject matter?

[phoenixineohp]

I just came from a fire! I heard on the scanner that there was a storage shed on fire down the street, so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots. Not exactly the story of the year, but the flames were bright and it made for a nice photo.

You have a scanner? O.o

[Rockphed]

What's up with all the stories involving bread in the microwave?

I once put a donut in the Microwave for 8 minutes. After 3 or 4 it started smoking. I was between 3 and 5 at the time.

[Premsyl]

I feel fortunate to have nothing to add here. I've proved fireproof till now. :smallsmile: *knock on wood*

[Renegade Paladin]

Hope your landlord's insurance company doesn't sue you for having a fire in your apartment. Mine did.

[SweetLikeLemons]

My first night in my new apartment, I was awakened early in the morning by an insistent beeping from somewhere outside my door. Having recently lived in the dorms, in my sleep-fuddled state I just assumed it was someone's alarm clock going off, muttered a few obscenities, and went back to sleep. The second time, same thing. The third time, I was finally annoyed enough to drag myself out of bed and go investigate. I was only when I opened the door to my apartment and discovered that the hallway was full of smoke that I realized the beeping was coming from the smoke detector. The boiler was malfunctioning, but luckily the building was not actually on fire, although it was still pretty scary to think about what might have happened if the building had been burning.

I'm glad to hear everyone in your family is ok, SurlySeraph. That must have been really frightening.

[Dihan]

Edit 2: Phoenix brought something to mind- don't scanners just scan in drawings and stuff to your computer..? :smallconfused: Or is this completely different subject matter?

It was probably a radio scanner. They can usually be used to tune into police and other emergency service radio frequencies.

[NikkTheTrick]

Well, congratulations with fast reaction. Fires can end waaaay worse than it did in your case. Point 5 should be repeated again.

How are you feeling? Smoke itself is nasty enough, but there is also some carbon monooxide in it, and THAT is a nasty one - prevents oxygen from getting absorbed :smalleek: Are you OK now? If you inhaled a lot of smoke, you might want to see a doctor just in case...

[Ink]

Hope you're all ok, Surly. I'm glad to hear no one was seriously harmed. Dryer being an electrical appliance though, buckets of water probably isn't a good idea. Fire extinguisher would be the way to go. Good thinking on your superintendent's part.

[Serpentine]

Ink!

...I just realised I hadn't seen you around for a while.

Oh yeah, fire... umm... My cousin, on the behalf of that side of my family, bought be a bunch of smelly candles for Christmas :smallyuk: Does that count?

No, I didn't think so :smallfrown:

[ForzaFiori]

oh man, fires. I haven't had the best luck with them either. Never had a house catch or anything, but i've had a shirt i was wearing catch, my shoes melt, and then one time at a campfire, i was putting a new log in and the wind changed directions and blew the fire into my face. slight burns to the face, and melted/burned alot of my hair. it had to be cut from the thickish shoulder length it is now to a thin bowlcut type style. it sucked.

[SurlySeraph]

Surly: Had you been emptying the lint filter? I'm told that can cause fires.

We emptied it almost every time we did a wash. I've heard that lint can also accumulate in the plumbing of the dryer, which might have been the cause.


Hope your landlord's insurance company doesn't sue you for having a fire in your apartment. Mine did.

Waaaah? They sued you? I could see that, if you were running a camping stove in the living room or had a stash of Molotov cocktails or something equally imprudent, but given what I know of your sanity that seems improbable.

However, I'm lucky enough to live in a co-op. No landlords to deal with, no increasing rent, and my parents get a say in the building's administration. The only downside is that it cost my parent's first-born child, but my sister's a tough girl, she'll do fine. :smalltongue:


How are you feeling? Smoke itself is nasty enough, but there is also some carbon monooxide in it, and THAT is a nasty one - prevents oxygen from getting absorbed :smalleek: Are you OK now? If you inhaled a lot of smoke, you might want to see a doctor just in case...

I feel kinda tired, but I think that's more from sleep deprivation than the aftereffects of the smoke. I'm not coughing or anything.

[Renegade Paladin]

Waaaah? They sued you? I could see that, if you were running a camping stove in the living room or had a stash of Molotov cocktails or something equally imprudent, but given what I know of your sanity that seems improbable.

However, I'm lucky enough to live in a co-op. No landlords to deal with, no increasing rent, and my parents get a say in the building's administration. The only downside is that it cost my parent's first-born child, but my sister's a tough girl, she'll do fine. :smalltongue:
The landlord had nothing to do with it; actually he told them they wouldn't get anything out of us. But I have a court date on April 11 anyway. The fire started in my apartment, so they reason it was my fault and that I should pay them upwards of a hundred thousand dollars. (That the electrical system hadn't been updated since the 1960s apparently didn't enter into their calculations.)

[Ascension]

If they want you to remember its metal they shouldn't make it all bendy. Other metals hardly bend.

Actually, malleability is one of the traits that makes a metal a metal. They'll all bend, it's just that usually when we encounter metals other than aluminum in everyday life they're too thick for us to bend easily or accidentally.

[Mauve Shirt]

I just remembered another interesting fire at our house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVRvNh6kgAk

[NikkTheTrick]

I feel kinda tired, but I think that's more from sleep deprivation than the aftereffects of the smoke. I'm not coughing or anything.
Carbon monooxide does not damage lungs. instead, it gets absorbed in red blood cells alongside with oxygen, binds Hemoglobin tightly and results in reduced ability to carry oxygen. So, it can make person tired.

However, it is harmless long-term since CO gets removed from hemoglobin (just slowly).

Although tiredeness can also come from stress caused by having to fight a fire in one's house...

[Mattarias, King.]

It was probably a radio scanner. They can usually be used to tune into police and other emergency service radio frequencies.

Oh. :smallconfused: Hunh. That seems slightly illegal, but I'm no pally, so I dunno anything about laws, really. Ok. Just goes to show ya, the more you know... :smallsigh:

[Serpentine]

If they want you to remember its metal they shouldn't make it all bendy. Other metals hardly bend.Curse my terrible memory. I meant to say: What about mercury? Can't get much bendier than that... I wonder what would happen if you put mercury in a microwave.

[CrazedGoblin]

i havent been directly involved with a fire before but once while camping one of the other kids threw a beer can on the fire, it was full, and not opened, we promtly dived behind anything solid and waited for it to explode, which it did.

[Castaras]

Closest thing I've had to having a fire was when in Chemistry our teacher demonstrated how the science benches are not flammable, while Ethanol is. :smallbiggrin:

*watches flames spiral...spiral...spiral...*

*is not a pyromaniac, honest*

[Bayar]

Fire is not evil...I usually touch candle fires with my fingers...it hurts at first, but your pain receptors learn to ignore it...after a while...

[Aereshaa_the_2nd]

One of my friends used to open up fireworks, pour the powder into a pipe open at one end, light it, and watch the fountain of firey lights. It's really awesome looking.

[Etheral]

I remember that I had sort of a fire at my house at some point. My parents left somewhere early in the morning and left the food cooking. The food got burnt real bad but I was still sleeping and I didnt know the house was filling up with smoke. When I wake up and open my bedroom door, all this smoke came in and I couldnt breathe.

No one got hurt but it took around 2 days to get the smell out. My lungs felt like they were on fire when I was there and I had a pretty bad cough for around 3 hours. But I felt most sorry for my two cats who were in the smoke the whole time! They were choking for hours. I kicked them out into the backyard to get some fresh air and they got better after a while. This was a really nasty experience. :smallfrown:

[Darkantra]

Oh yes, smoke inhalation.

My parent's kitchen got renovated a year ago and one of the newest things there was a big natural gas stove and an equally big exhaust fan that led directly to the roof. So christmas rolls around and I'm starting the fire while my dad's cooking seven different things in the kitchen. I get it blazing and sit back in front of it with a book, when my something catches on fire in the kitchen. My dad closes the door between the living room and the kitchen to keep the smoke out and turns on the fan. *Woomph* All of the smoke in the chimney funnels right down in front of me and in idiotic shock I take a breath in and almost pass out.

We still haven't got anyone to look at exactly why it happened and how it can be averted, but it was a bloody near thing.