Arson in the playground

[TheThan]

So today I got up kinda late, after I finish my morning routine I walk into the living room. To my surprise my mother is still home. So I ask why she’s here, and she informs me that she went to work as usual but, someone had broken in and set fire to the building. So her boss sent everyone home.

At first I didn’t believe it, but my mom isn’t the sort of person who would joke about such things. She said Smoke was billowing out of the front doors etc. Which means it was bad enough. Fortunately nobody was hurt. She works in insurance and its very likely a very disgruntled claimant. Since fires make really big messes, it looks like they are going to be closed for a few days as they clean up the mess.

I know there was another thread recently about a fire (in which some prized dnd books and a green dragon were sparred). So I was wondering if anyone else has any horrible (or at least amusing) fire related stories.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Umm, apart from the regular attempts to set my school on fire by classmates, no.

[DraPrime]

A few years ago a house blew up (http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Gas-Explosion--Fire-Level-Lexington--Massachusetts-Home/45$45827) in my town. Like, completely blown up. There was just some rubble. I was sick that day and asleep at home, but according to my friends in school they could see a column of smoke from class. Because a faulty gas valve blew the house up, they were drilling through the ground all around town for the next 6 months checking to see that all the other gas lines were fine. But that was an accident, so no arson.

[Mc. Lovin']

I cannot see a thread in which we tell our amusing anecdotes about arson will go well.

[TheThan]

A few years ago a house blew up (http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Gas-Explosion--Fire-Level-Lexington--Massachusetts-Home/45$45827) in my town. Like, completely blown up. There was just some rubble. I was sick that day and asleep at home, but according to my friends in school they could see a column of smoke from class. Because a faulty gas valve blew the house up, they were drilling through the ground all around town for the next 6 months checking to see that all the other gas lines were fine. But that was an accident, so no arson.


The owner of the LGS had his house accidentally blown off of its foundation from a gas leak. But that happened long before I knew him. So yeah, don't play with gas kidos.


I cannot see a thread in which we tell our amusing anecdotes about arson will go well.

I meant horrible or amusing stories about fire. mine just happens to (quite possibly) involve arson. Anyway as of yet there is not direct evidence to suggest criminal activity. I'm making an assumption (a likely one at that).

[TheBST]

Fella I used to tend bar for tried this. In January he tossed a petrol bomb into his own pub for insurance. He was in the dock the next daay.

He got 5 years, man.

[DraPrime]

Fella I used to tend bar for tried this. In January he tossed a petrol bomb into his own pub for insurance. He was in the dock the next daay.

He got 5 years, man.

Kind of reminds me of something that happened in the first Discworld book. Weird.

[TheBST]

Kind of reminds me of something that happened in the first Discworld book. Weird.

If he was inclined towards reading, believe me, he'd have smart enough to know what a bad idea it was. Plus he was drunk as hell when he did it and made sure the place was empty. Still got the maximum sentence. I think it was a fiery cry for help, myself.

[Mc. Lovin']

I meant horrible or amusing stories about fire. mine just happens to (quite possibly) involve arson. Anyway as of yet there is not direct evidence to suggest criminal activity. I'm making an assumption (a likely one at that).

Ahah! Good at backtracking, I like it :smalltongue:

[Mr. Mud]

Okay well, I hope I don't get under investigation (I can't let anyone find that swiss bank account :smalleek:) for being a bit iffy on forum rules/regulation, but on my way to church a few years ago, I saw a bush that was on fire, but someone had a hose to it, and I didn't think anything of it, and when I walk into mass, a reading about the burning bush was being read. . . :eek:

@v: You sir, have an awesome family friend :smallbiggrin:

[lordofthe_wog]

The father of one of my uncle's students (he's a teacher down in Connecticut) went on an arson spree and burned down a couple of empty barns. He got... I think 2 years.

Yeeeeah, don't play with fire, kiddos.

[Leper_Kahn]

There is a student in my school, although no one knows who, who has set fire to a few things in the recent weeks. As long as no one would be hurt I wouldn't mind school burning down though. :smallyuk:

[Copacetic]

I would tell this really amusing story about matches, a full gas tank,and a car dealer, but My Lawyer says to pretend it never happened.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I jave two "fire stories" from when I was a kid.

The first is when Stu, the same brother who just survived the nightmare of an aortic dissection, got curious about fire. The only injury was our kitchen, and it was remodeled. Not so serious.

The other story involves my cousin, who actually has the same name as me. Like my family, his owned an auto parts store. As far as I know, there was no connection, other than that both stores had the same name and were on different sides of town.

I don't really know how it happened, but I remember standing in the front end of the store, and everything had been destroyed by a fire. It had to have plenty of fuel, what with all the flamable fluids and various containers with contents under pressure. All of this would be bad enough, but it wasn't. The worst part was seeing my cousin, a grown man, break down in tears. :smallfrown:

There's good news to this last story. The insurance settlement allowed him to move the business to a larger, nicer store, and said business flourished. :smallsmile:

[Miklus]

I lived in a hi-rise once that caught fire. It was all-concrete, though, so I don't think the fire could have spread too much. But the elevator didn't work and the stairs was filled with smoke, so there was no way down. A bit scary, I admit.

I don't think it was arson though. Probably just some junkie living in the basement that fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand. I'm so glad I don't live in that neighborhood anymore, they have had so many shootings this last month. There is some kind of gang-war going on.

Funny story: Back when I still lived there, some guys tried to off some other guy by pouring petrolium though his letterbox and setting it on fire. It didn't work, the guy was not home. From the outside that apartment looked just like mine (they all looked the same), so when it was in the news, my mom (of cause) thought it was mine. I didn't answer the phone right away, so she went nuts :smallamused: Moms will do that.

[Linkavitch]

Fella I used to tend bar for tried this. In January he tossed a petrol bomb into his own pub for insurance. He was in the dock the next daay.

He got 5 years, man.

Ouch.:smile: Really funny, though. My town (Pellston, MI) is pretty much the drug capital of the US (seems like, anyway.) but, surprisingly, not much arson actually happens. One kinda funny thing, though, is somehow a kid (15-16) got a hold of a couple of morphine patches and ate them. Ate. Them. He turned blue in class, fainted, and was rushed to the hospital. He lived. Kinda scary, but kinda "REALLY STUPID IDEA" story too.:wink:

A kid I met at summer camp told me once that he taped a lighter to the end off a Water Blaster, and filled it with gasoline. He got on his roof and tried it out, and it seemed to work surprisingly well. He threw it off the roof when he was done, and it exploded on the ground.:biggrin:

[TheThan]

Wow these are some pretty interesting stories.

Many years ago now, our only real source of heat in the wintertime was a wood stove. Even though I was a kid, I would have to tend it, so I’ve grown up with a healthy respect for the power of fire. I’m very glad our situation has improved from those dark times.

Anyway the word is still out on the situation behind the opening incident. Though IIRC, my mom’ company has some claimants who are… well nutz. I believe a couple even threatened some of my mom’s coworkers, so knowing this, I’m pretty sure its arson.

Either that or someone’s trying to cover up theft (computers etc).

[rankrath]

Well, about a year ago I was lighting my grill, in the rain, and what do you know, the flame dies. So I got and grab some lighter fluid, spray the fire with it, and what do you know, it was hot in the center of the fire. and I was still holding the can of lighter fluid. Sufficient to say, the fire backtracked into the can, exploded about six inches from my face. Fortunately, I only lost about half my facial, arm and leg hair, burned away a pair of jeans and t-shirt, and suffered some minor first degree burns. The grill was completely unscathed.

[BizzaroStormy]

I dont have a story but i have a funny fire video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnupGcvgaho)

[Boo]

There is a student in my school, although no one knows who, who has set fire to a few things in the recent weeks. As long as no one would be hurt I wouldn't mind school burning down though. :smallyuk:

You know you would just be off for maybe a week, and then have to go to another school further away. Possibly a worse school, and obviously it will be crowded.

At some point you stop wanting your school to burn down because it's just going to end badly for everyone.

[Haruki-kun]

I dont have a story but i have a funny fire video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnupGcvgaho)

Wow.... it even says so in the can. People aren't very smart, are they?

[TigerHunter]

From the outside that apartment looked just like mine (they all looked the same), so when it was in the news, my mom (of cause) thought it was mine. I didn't answer the phone right away, so she went nuts :smallamused: Moms will do that.
You are an evil, evil person. :smallamused:


A kid I met at summer camp told me once that he taped a lighter to the end off a Water Blaster, and filled it with gasoline. He got on his roof and tried it out, and it seemed to work surprisingly well. He threw it off the roof when he was done, and it exploded on the ground.:biggrin:
Hm.

*scribbles in his IN CASE OF ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE notebook*

[TheThan]

You are an evil, evil person. :smallamused:


Hm.

*scribbles in his IN CASE OF ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE notebook*

Don’t use fire on zombies, that makes flaming zombies.

Instead use holy water on zombies, it takes them right out.

[Shatteredtower]

When I was 20, I worked security at a closed steel plant on the edge of Paradise. My post was a small shack with poor quality electric heating on the edge of the complex, so we had to use the oven to provide additional heat in the winter (-20 C in a damp climate is not fun, even out of the wind).

As I went to check the plant one night, I closed the shack door a little bit too hard, not knowing I'd dislodged one of the straps from the bag I'd brought my lunch in to land on the stovetop. I also hadn't realized that oven switch could be set to turn on the stove's burners as well as the oven...

So when I finished wandering through the steel plant, I paused to look out on the quiet, early morning hours, admiring how peaceful it was, thinking something along these lines:

Ah... what a peaceful night. So quiet, so clear and beautiful. Nice little fire in the guard shaAAAAAAHHHH!!!

This is when things started to get interesting. See, when the building went into receivership, they pulled all of the phones from the site, meaning I had no way of phoning the fire department. Fortunately, we'd been given two-way radios to maintain contact with our head office. Unfortunately, that office was located on the harbourfront, requiring the person on the other end to stand on the roof of their office tower to contact us -- which meant I had to wait another forty-five minutes before I'd hear from them for the hourly check call.

Well, at least I could use a fire extinguisher, right? No, because those had also been pulled from the site when the building went into receivership. Luckily, the fire was still limited to the wooden shelf (and bag) next to the oven, allowing me to safely unplug the latter and then bury the fire under what snow I was able to gather.

I was transferred to the fish plant soon after that...


At some point you stop wanting your school to burn down because it's just going to end badly for everyone.

Yeah, I wound up having to go to school two hours early at one point for pretty much that reason, so they could run classes in two shifts (morning and afternoons).

[Lord Tataraus]

A couple years back some guy at a gas station or auto-repair shop near a gas station, I don't really remember, some guy decided it was a good idea to wield a leak shut on a tanker truck (edit: and yes, it was full at the time, hence his impatience on getting the leak fixed). We felt the ground shack at the school about two miles away and we all rushed out to see the billowing mushroom-shaped smoke, it was pretty cool and that guy should've got a Darwin award.

[TigerHunter]

A couple years back some guy at a gas station or auto-repair shop near a gas station, I don't really remember, some guy decided it was a good idea to wield a leak shut on a tanker truck. We felt the ground shack at the school about two miles away and we all rushed out to see the billowing mushroom-shaped smoke, it was pretty cool and that guy should've got a Darwin award.
...

...

...WHY?!

[Telonius]

Well, about a year ago I was lighting my grill, in the rain, and what do you know, the flame dies. So I got and grab some lighter fluid, spray the fire with it, and what do you know, it was hot in the center of the fire. and I was still holding the can of lighter fluid. Sufficient to say, the fire backtracked into the can, exploded about six inches from my face. Fortunately, I only lost about half my facial, arm and leg hair, burned away a pair of jeans and t-shirt, and suffered some minor first degree burns. The grill was completely unscathed.

What brand of grill was it? Might have to get one of those.:smallbiggrin:

[evisiron]

Kind of reminds me of something that happened in the first Discworld book. Weird.

Oh yeah, "in-sewer-ants" :smallbiggrin:

My amusing story is somewhat subdued, and back when I was a young scout. I have always been good at making fires, and at a scout BBQ the adults set me to make the fire. They expected a small thing someone would have to come back and fix later, so they said to make it as big as I wanted (as long as it was safe of course). Their mistake was leaving me with a forests worth of kindling, pre chopped blocks and a labour force in the shape of the Beaver Scouts. ..

By the time they got back a had made what was essentially a large yet concentrated bonfire that was so hot no-one could stand near it, and all the stuff that was set up had to be moved a fair bit back. Bwahahaha!

[Fri]

Seriously, how do you do that? Can you give me some pointer? I was in the scout for 6 years in my childhood, and I was hanging out with hiking club for a year at college, but I never succeeded at making fire without lighter or matches.

[WrstDmEvr]

A few years ago a house blew up (http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Gas-Explosion--Fire-Level-Lexington--Massachusetts-Home/45$45827) in my town. Like, completely blown up. There was just some rubble. I was sick that day and asleep at home, but according to my friends in school they could see a column of smoke from class. Because a faulty gas valve blew the house up, they were drilling through the ground all around town for the next 6 months checking to see that all the other gas lines were fine. But that was an accident, so no arson.

That's odd. I remember a similar thing happening in a different town a couple years ago also, except this one didn't explode, just burned down. Also attributed to a faulty gas system.

Going a bit off topic, last year somebody in our school set off a fire alarm and activated the sprinkler system in one part of our school. Closest thing I've had to a real fire.

[rankrath]

What brand of grill was it? Might have to get one of those.:smallbiggrin:

nothing special, just a standard weber grill.

[TheThan]

Ok so I talked to my mom today, and it looks like its not just arson, its burglary. Apparently someone got inside and let others in, and they made off with computer, printers other electronics, everyone’s Halloween candy (apparently they had a sweet tooth), etc. They even cut themselves some company checks (why they weren’t locked up is beyond me). They were there long enough to rifle through everyone’s desk (we’re talking well over a hundred people). Hell they even made off with some donations to charity organizations.

It’s possible it may have been an inside job, as they seemed to know where to go to find the good stuff (offices, etc). There is also no visible sign of forced entry and the alarm wasn’t tripped (which could very well mean it doesn’t even work).

Fortunately the firemen got there quickly enough to put out the fire before it caused any major damage, that and they clearly are amateur Pyros, since they tired to ignite tightly stacked bundles of paper. Which doesn’t work very well. They just smolder until they get REALLY hot, since there’s not a lot of air between the pages to fuel it.

Anyway the cops investigated it all day, so they’ll eventually catch them, though it might take a while.

[UncleWolf]

About 6 years ago I lost my eyebrows to a blast of flame from a Hobo stove(a coffee can made into a grill) at a boy scout camp. I wasn't hurt at all except my face was red for a few days. I had been blowing into the top of it trying to get it going when another person blew into a hole in the bottom without telling me(as far as I could tell).

FOOM!!
No more eyebrows. And now, I can't seem to grow any facial hair on the left side of my face. Could this be related?

[dehro]

I like reading in bed..always did..even as a young kid of 14.
trouble is that sometimes I fall asleep whilst reading.
this would not be a problem, normally
...unless you're 14, supposed to be sleeping and therefore hiding your nightstand lamp under the duvet...still, no problem..
...unless your mattress of the time is made mostly out of foam...
...and your lamp is a halogen lamp..

long story short, after a couple of hours sleeping with the book on my face, I woke up sweating to find that the lamp had fallen over, getting in direct contact with the blankets, had burned a hole therein and was setting the mattress on fire.
I therefore dragged the fuming mattress on the terrace (3rd floor appartment, luckily my room had direct access to the terrace)..and spent the next 3 hours trying to put out the mattress... (apparently foam, once set on fire gets into some sort of self-combusting cycle...against which no ammount of water works)
for decency's sake, I will not repeat what my father had to say when he found me standing in my undies with the water hose in one hand, flooding the terrace...at 4 in the morning.