[3KP]

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?

 

[Bill]

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.

 

[22rifle]

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!

 

[22rifle]

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.

 

[Bill]

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!

 

[22rifle]

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

 

[Bill]

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!

 

[Plumberman]

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

 

[Bill]

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!

 

[3KP]

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

 

[Bill]

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.

 

[user4]

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

 

[22rifle]

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.

 

[Plumberman]

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

 

[3KP]

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.

 

[threaderman]

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.

 

[Plumberman]

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....

 

[3KP]

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.

 

[Bill]

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

 

[Plumberman]

No joke.....