Please check your fire extinguisher - a cautionary tale!
Discussion
A cautionary tale!
I had a fire at home yesterday. Was warming up the barbecue in the garden. I went inside to get the meat out of the fridge, and I heard a crackling noise outside. Went out to find that some plants growing up the wall of my house and garage were on fire. This is exactly where I have my garden hose, so I tried to spray the fire with water but the water pressure was so low that I could barely get more than a dribble out of the spray gun.
I remembered that I have a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen, so I went inside and grabbed it. By the time I came out, the fire was raging up the wall and through the plants, with flames leaoing 20-30 feet into the air. That's it, I thought! So I ripped the safety tab from the fire extinguisher and discharged it into the area towards the bottom of where most of the flames were coming from.
Thankfully, I managed to completely put out the fire, but it's shocking how fast it takes hold. So no real harm done in the end, but if I hadn't had a fire extinguisher, the outcome could have been so very different. The whole thing was over in less than 30 seconds from when I heard the crackling sound.
I'm still not entirely sure how the fire started. The barbecue is a good distance away from where the fire started. I can only imagine a cinder floated off and landed on some particularly dry dead leaves that had been inside the mass of foliage going up the wall. Now that I've torn away a lot of the foliage, a veritable nest of dry old leaves has fallen out!
If there's any lesson to be learned, I'm not sure that it's don't have a barbecue. Probably, it's to be more diligent about removing deal leaves. But certainly, it's make sure you have a fire extinguisher on hand, and check the pressure gauge once or twice a year to make sure it will work. I had the extinguisher but I didn't check it regularly. And as I've had it for about 30 years, that wasn't a certainty. Thankfully it worked its magic and disaster has been averted by the skin of my teeth!
I've ordered three class ABC powder extinguishers to replace it. One big 9kg one for the garage, where I sometimes weld or braze things, and a 1kg and a 2kg one for the kitchen and to keep in the utility room. They aren't very expensive and I may well have saved my house because I had it on hand quickly.
I had a fire at home yesterday. Was warming up the barbecue in the garden. I went inside to get the meat out of the fridge, and I heard a crackling noise outside. Went out to find that some plants growing up the wall of my house and garage were on fire. This is exactly where I have my garden hose, so I tried to spray the fire with water but the water pressure was so low that I could barely get more than a dribble out of the spray gun.
I remembered that I have a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen, so I went inside and grabbed it. By the time I came out, the fire was raging up the wall and through the plants, with flames leaoing 20-30 feet into the air. That's it, I thought! So I ripped the safety tab from the fire extinguisher and discharged it into the area towards the bottom of where most of the flames were coming from.
Thankfully, I managed to completely put out the fire, but it's shocking how fast it takes hold. So no real harm done in the end, but if I hadn't had a fire extinguisher, the outcome could have been so very different. The whole thing was over in less than 30 seconds from when I heard the crackling sound.
I'm still not entirely sure how the fire started. The barbecue is a good distance away from where the fire started. I can only imagine a cinder floated off and landed on some particularly dry dead leaves that had been inside the mass of foliage going up the wall. Now that I've torn away a lot of the foliage, a veritable nest of dry old leaves has fallen out!
If there's any lesson to be learned, I'm not sure that it's don't have a barbecue. Probably, it's to be more diligent about removing deal leaves. But certainly, it's make sure you have a fire extinguisher on hand, and check the pressure gauge once or twice a year to make sure it will work. I had the extinguisher but I didn't check it regularly. And as I've had it for about 30 years, that wasn't a certainty. Thankfully it worked its magic and disaster has been averted by the skin of my teeth!
I've ordered three class ABC powder extinguishers to replace it. One big 9kg one for the garage, where I sometimes weld or braze things, and a 1kg and a 2kg one for the kitchen and to keep in the utility room. They aren't very expensive and I may well have saved my house because I had it on hand quickly.
If you buy powder ones make a mental note to turn them upside-down and give them a gentle shake every month or so, as over time the power can settle and compact. Especially in a garage where it may be subject to vibrations from an air compressor or other tools.
I work in a safety-focused industry and it amazes me that things we take for granted (like even just owning a fire extinguisher or fire blanket) is completely off some peoples radar.
I work in a safety-focused industry and it amazes me that things we take for granted (like even just owning a fire extinguisher or fire blanket) is completely off some peoples radar.
Having seen how quickly a fence fire can take hold I can appreciate how lucky you were. However, powder extinguishers are really bad for leaving residue especially whe used indoors: a neighbour was still cleaning up a month later when she used one in the kitchen. Have a look at water mist extinguishers:
https://www.fireprotectiononline.co.uk/p50-service...
You can use them on almost any fire.
https://www.fireprotectiononline.co.uk/p50-service...
You can use them on almost any fire.
CouncilFerrari said:
Thanks for the heads up, OP. A timely reminder especially while things will be tinder dry, in this heat.
Worth mentioning that these are available for anyone with large lithium batteries, battery banks etc...
I'm adding a 28kwh battery in my garage soon, was already thinking of adding a wifi smoke alarm as we might not hear it, is this beefy enough for such a large battery?Worth mentioning that these are available for anyone with large lithium batteries, battery banks etc...
I have two fire extinguishers on the wall by the door into the garage, another two in the boot of the TVR. The solar batteries and inverter is there, and they fitted a smoke alarm with the install, which I found when the battery died and I was searching for where the beeping was coming from. 
So I changed them out for wifi linked ones in the house and garage, cheap and tiny now.
A fire risk is also why I took out the all the pampas grass from the front garden. So much dead grass/tinder
So I changed them out for wifi linked ones in the house and garage, cheap and tiny now.
A fire risk is also why I took out the all the pampas grass from the front garden. So much dead grass/tinder
I didn't even twig that!Traffic said:
CouncilFerrari said:
I'm adding a 28kwh battery in my garage soon, was already thinking of adding a wifi smoke alarm as we might not hear it, is this beefy enough for such a large battery?A 2litre one runs out after 28 seconds....would that do it? Who knows!
We have a 14.4kWh system in the garage. No idea of the best way to manage, other than we have a mains linked house smoke detector to give us time to get out.
Well done avoiding something worse, OP.
LunarOne said:
Wildfire said:
Lucky! Glad it all worked out. I think I may have to get a couple on order!
Thanks! But I have to say, username yadda yadda...
Traffic said:
I'm adding a 28kwh battery in my garage soon, was already thinking of adding a wifi smoke alarm as we might not hear it, is this beefy enough for such a large battery?
If the battery is built to spec then the fire should be largely contained within the casing, I think you would have a hard job getting any fire extinguisher to really reach the burning cells unless the case fails spectacularly, by which time you're probably talking about a much bigger fire than an extinguisher could handle.My team at work has set fire to a couple of domestic battery systems (using heat pads placed inside the casing) and the results were quite non-spectacular. More smoke (which you do not want to be breathing in) than anything else. In the unlikely event your battery catches fire and the flames spread, then my advice is get out and stay out.
Far more likelihood that your washing machine or dishwasher will catch fire to be honest, and unless you're around to catch it early the results will be worse as they're located inside your home!
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