That was a pretty spectacular blaze they had going on over at Notre Dame. Of course, when you let your kindling season for around 800 years you should probably expect a rather cheery glow.
You know, back in the 1700’s right up until the late 1800’s a house fire in a large population center could wipe out a huge chunk of the metropolis. We all hear about the Chicago fire but there were quite a few similar conflagrations through history. … The kind that were so dangerous that the people responding would literally dynamite entire rows and blocks of houses to keep it from spreading.
Nowadays you don’t really see those kinds of blazes very much anymore. Sure, industrial fires occur and there’s always that one propane tanker that just has to become a freeze-frame moment on he national news. But residential neighborhoods going up? Seems like it doesn’t happen very much. Wildifres, sure. But someone left-the-stove-on-and-burned-down-twenty-homes doesn’t seem to happen very often at all.
Of course, whether its one house or one hundred, all that really matters is when it’s your house. After the apocalypse you can’t really count on the local fire brigade to show up and you might be on your own.
For a couple years I’ve tinkered with the idea of a small hose bib and coil of flat hose hidden in a strategically located closet in the house to keep the small fires form becoming Big Fires. But, in addition to that I also keep a rather generous amount of fire extinguishers.
But you know what really sets the stage for being prepared against that sorta thing? Prevention. I simply try not to burn down the damn house. Whats that mean? Well, for starters, if I’m not at the house I don’t leave things like crockpots, slow cookers, rice steamers, or other ‘slow cook’ devices running. Thats just asking for trouble. Of course some devices run when Im not around…refrigerator, hot water heater, furnace, etc, but those are kinda designed for unattended operation. (And, nonetheless, I keep an eye on them anyway… keep those things clean from dust and any nearby materials that might wanna go poof.)
And, of course, smoke detectors. And I’m not some idiot who just slaps a 9v into $10 detector, mounts it on the ceiling, and then thinks its a job well done. No no no. You gotta test that mofo. A wooden kitchen match and a stepladder. Every. Smoke. Detector.
Afew years ago someone gifted me a CO detector. These are actually probably even more useful than a smoke detector because while I can get the hint that the sofa is on fire from that bright red glow, I am completely oblivious to the CO building up in the house because the vent to my hot water heater got iced over or something. And, if you’re going to heat with a kerosene heater or other portable device in the winter then you really need a couple of those things.
Sadly, the best laid plans of mice and survivalists often go astray so you gotta have a plan for when things start getting toasty. The most blatantly obvious is have a way to get outta the house. I live on the ground floor, so for me, defenestration is my number one method for heading to safety. But, if you live in a multi-story dwelling….well…might wanna think about how to get out without breaking both legs.
Might also wanna think about the critical stuff to keep in the gun safe. I don’t attach a ny sentimental value to my passport, birth certificate, college papers, or pardon from the governor….but I might like to not have to replace those documents. So, if its something you really don’t wanna replace and might need for running your life….it goes in the gun safe.
Thing is…we know all of this. Am I telling you anything that you don’t already know? Of course not. The big issue is do we act upon what we know? You know the important docs should stay in the gun safe, right? So why are the sitting in the drawer of your desk? You know you’re supposed to change the smoke detector batts every time we set the cloks back/forward, right? So why is the detector in the laundry room chirping like a lovesick cricket?
Motivation, man. We know what we’re supposed to do, we just don’t do it. And then when we get caught….well, imagine how stupid youre going to feel then. Imagine coming home to this. This is probably one of the biggest reasons I can imagine for having a ‘secondary location’ where I can keep a portion of things like ammo, food, guns, fuel, gear, etc.
Anyway…I was reading an article in the paper today about a local-ish family that lost it all in a house fire and it reminded me of the subject. Oh, and before I forget, while it probably won’t come in handy after the apocalypse, some good fire insurance will be a nice bit of peace of mind the rest of the time.
“But residential neighborhoods going up? Seems like it doesn’t happen very much. ”
Unless local or fed.gov steps in:
https://www.amazon.com/Let-Burn-Philadelphia-Department-Confrontation/dp/193786832X/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=let+it+burn&qid=1555490885&s=gateway&sr=8-12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing
It’s actually surprising the number of neighborhoods that burn in modern times.
The Camp Fire 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018) consumed over 18,000 structures and turned at least one town (ironically named Paradise) into a dark smudge on the ground.
Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn burned up during a hurricane when the streets flooded and fire apparatus couldn’t make it through.
I can think of at least three or four times I’ve responded to a call from some mailman or UPS driver who heads down the long dead end road to deliver to some weekender and gets there only to find a big field of snow and a scorched foundation. A fire will start in some weekenders hideaway house that he built it away from the neighbors for privacy; catches fire in the middle of a snow storm, burns down to the concrete and no one notices. Happens once every couple years around here.
Sometimes you have to be your own firefighter and sometimes part of that is knowing when to say “done” and put down the hose and break out the marshmallows.
Its a butt-load easier to prevent a fire than it is to fight one.
Interior firefighting stations are handy for folks who know how to use them but if you look around most buildings nowadays you’ll see the hose cabinets that used to contain a smoothbore nozzle and a hundred feet of hose are now empty; regulations changing.
Similarly, most schools have a policy that only trained FF may use fire extinguishers, everyone else should just flee.
Defensive landscaping and some creative exterior plumbing can help get you a few percentage points of odds in your favor. For the severely hardcore, there are FF portable pumps that you feed off your swimming pool and project a gel/foam that coats your structure with fire retardant. I’ve seen some truly hardcore mofo’s who will actually buy an older pumper truck that some company is obsoleting out and keep it as their SHTF last chance ace in the hold.
The removal of fire extinguishers from public places is sad but true!
While I visiting someone in a medical complex in the former Constitution State of Connecticut, I noticed that ALL of the fire extinguishers had been removed from their glass cases. In their place was a sign that read: “Fire extinguishers have been removed from all public spaces in accordance with Connecticut state fire code. In case of fire you should if possible activate a fire alarm pull box and leave the building. Do not attempt to fight a fire.”
It seems that the nanny state government there would rather let a building burn (and people possibly die) than permit access to a tool to stop a fire from spreading. I see no logic in this, only an attempt to make you believe you have no strength to fend for yourself. They’d let you die rather than take actions on your own behalf without relying on “the authorities.”
The fine print in most homeowner’s insurance policy has a $2k limit on guns, jewelry, precious metals, cash and I’m sure other stuff. When we installed a wood burning stove the agent came out, took photos and raised the premium.
I wound up putting the birth certificates, cash, gold and other stuff in a safe deposit box at the nearby credit union, against my gut feeling, still don’t want all my eggs in one basket.
I’ve been toying with the idea of another layer for the old gun safe. Frame of unistrut steel (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superstrut-6-ft-12-Gauge) around it with a layer of type x 5/8’s drywall, since drywall is so cheap may as well put two layers. Doubles the fire rating to one hour instead of 30 minutes for standard drywall.
gun safes, even “fire rated” are poor protection. maybe in a fire safe inside a gun safe. I’ve been researching this very topic. fire is an evil thing, lol.
Smoke detectors and CO detectors have a limited life, and need to be replaced every 7 or 8 years – after manufacture. There should be a replacement date listed on them.
or go hardwired.
its not the power that’s the problem. they use elements, isotopes really, that decay over time to detect the carbon or methane or fire.
Part of our fire plan in very rural America is, we have a large ‘utility sink’ on the ground floor with a standard hose-size threaded spigot. Under the sink is 50’ of coiled, heavy-duty garden hose, ready to connect, specifically to fight a fire.
Ain’t ‘perfect’, but it’s one option for quickly delivering a continuous volume of water until the cavalry arrives.
Couldn’t a person use metal studs instead of lumber and some fire proof siding? I work on commercial bldgs and it would be hard for one of them tincstch fire. There is little wood in them. Sheet rock doesn’t burn, metal studs don’t burn. Use a floor covering that doesn’t burn and metal trusses, what is there to burn?
It may not burn at first, but the heat around it will make documents, cash, anything inside the safe combust if it hits its flash point.
The volume of air is too small for much to burn,fuel/heat/oxygen is the formula for fire. A stack of FRNs is really hard to burn(singe around the edges but not consumed),gold and silver are even more fire resistant.
Think about it; Navy ships are made of steel. Steel bulkheads, steel decks, steel overheads, etc. yet they burn. It’s not the steel its what you put on and around it.
In firefighter parlance, its not a ‘room fire’ its a ‘room AND contents fire’.
You might have a concrete house that was constructed of just rebar and concrete, but what about the paint, rugs, furniture, etc.?
I wondered why the sudden spike in traffic on my house fire story. Glad to see you are still blogging. I’m jumping back in. Hope to hear from you again and thanks for the mention.
OJD
Overland Park, KS, back in 2017 had an apartment building under construction go up that was throwing embers into neighboring homes. At least 22 homes damaged by flames and sparks.
https://www.kmbc.com/article/fire-rips-through-overland-park-apartment-complex/9158681
wasn’t the cathedral rebuilt after WWII?
Arson!
Done to someone, somewhere, by somebody!
When I moved here (location redacted) I was surprised to learn that local codes allow standard drywall as wall sheathing in attached garages; the previous location required 1X 5/8″ FC-rated minimum or 2X 1/2″ standard drywall. It’s additional expense, but not that much, to use 5/8″ (or 3/4″ now that it’s readily available) FC-rated drywall on every wall in the house. The increase in mass also reduces noise levels transmitted between rooms.
There’s never, AFAIK, been strong interest in residential sprinkler systems. Older codes required threaded steel pipe which is expensive to cut, fit thread and install, newer codes allow PCV and PEX if it’s behind a 1-hour barrier (1X 5/8″-3/4″ FC drywall, 2X regular 1/2″ drywall or 2X lumber), and although not as efficient as ceiling mounted heads, wall-mounted ones more easily avoid exposing piping to freezing temps (and don’t forget to use solid core doors). A flow switch in the sprinkler system ties the house alarm system to the sprinklers to alert residents and the monitoring service to sprinkler activation (side note: I understand esthetics, etc., but I’m a little surprised no one found a way to discretely sprinkler Notre Dame, at least certain portions of it; I suspect there will be new interest in sprinkler systems among landmark structures).
RE: interior hose – if you have a tankless water heater it should have been installed with flush ports to allow “vinegaring” it every 12-18 months, which provides a handy full pressure cold water connection (and it’s simple to add one to the cold inlet for tank style water heaters). The “wrinkle” hoses coil to about 30 ft and under pressure extend to 100 ft.
CO detectors – necessary if there’s any combustion device in the house, and they’ll trip a little earlier than a smoke detector to a hidden smoldering but non-smoking fire.
RE: The CA Camp Fire, etc.; I’ve never understood why people who build in very remote areas use highly combustible roofing and wall sheathing. Cedar shakes look great but go up like flashbulbs, and all those beautiful trees close to the house shed embers and firebrands when they ignite, and leaves/pine needles/etc. in gutters, roof valleys and along foundations are nothing but tinder.
RE: fire extinguishers: a 5lb ABC in every closet is not overkill. Wall mount next to the door to keep it in view and not buried by clutter. A 2.5 gallon pressurized water extinguisher on each level isn’t excessive, either and does things ABC won’t.
Gun safes are good, but I think there’s a market for a lower security but highly fire resistant storage option as well. Pro Tip: BOLO for a Data Safe or DS-rated file cabinet. New, very, very spendy, used, not quite so much. DS standards are considerably higher than regular ones – “standard” fire resistant usually means no exposure above 1700F for longer than 1 hr and internal temps stay under 370F (thanks to Bradbury we all know dry paper ignites at 451F, but it begins to char at ~370); data safes are built to keep internal temp below 125F, and the better ones are tested for 30 ft drops without opening because floors can burn out from under them.
My renters insurance is a whopping $10.58 a month.
An amusing note on house fires and food storage. Those potato pearls that one can purchase and store….in a fire they go off and sound a bit like ammo cooking off. This per a Mormon who had a fire…
As for safes – it may be fire rated and the weapons may survive but the water from the beloved hose draggers will be their ruin if you delay in the retrieval of them. Friends had a home burn to the ground – guns in the safe looked in fair shape but the water damage was pretty awful…not sure how long before they were allowed access to the ruins but my plan was always to pitch the weapons out the windows if time allowed. At least they’d be relatively unscathed.
Around here, one common way to set one’s own house on fire is to put apparently cold ashes in a paper bag or cardboard box & set those ashes on the porch. I think people have learned about this (finally!) because there haven’t been as many in recent years.
We were unable to get fire insurance because middle of forest + log home + wood stove is considered a a fire risk. We now have a propane furnace with the wood stove as backup, so are considering buying it. There is no way we could afford to rebuild now.
I understand taking fire extinguishers out of buildings. Modern buildings have a lot of chemical-laden materials which can cause unconsciousness or death before the fire gets you. Way back in my salad days I had a job that required us to have fire extinguisher training. But I told my boss that considering where my office was – in the basement in the corner farthest from the exit with computers & other equipment – there was no way I’d stay to put out a fire. He understood.
Lost everything to a home fire,the smoke and water damage was greater than actual fire,sprinklers would be a disaster in a small fire(total loss of contents and mold-would be a demo instead of a rehab). Do not forget the psychological/emotional effects of shoveling everything you hold dear into a dumpster. Best fire prep are nitrogen extinguishers(cool and eliminate oxygen)without making a mess(dry chem/try cleaning up that mess) or driving you out of the area(co2 in a enclosed space can knock you out/kill) or electrocute(water) if power is not killed.
On another note the Chicago fire was actually started by a metorite strike and not a cow tipping a lantern(several other fires at same time but not as much media).