It seems to me that fire could be a problem during a pandemic. If the electricity is out then many people may be using candles for light or building fires in chimmneys that haven’t been used or cleaned for years. If the water is out and/or the fire department is overwhelmed (with flu or other emergencies) then it seems we may experience times when we are on our own.
This would seem to be a problem no matter where you live. I am thinking of the fires in Philly (?) with the organization MOVE that took out many homes over several blocks as well as forest fires and grass fires.
The best laid plans and preps could be gone in minutes if your house catches fire.
Also will those of us with gas furnaces, water heaters, stoves, ect have to worry about gas build-up in our homes if our pilot lights go out and then the gas is turned back on in our homes but not the electricity to ignight the pilot lights.
sorry for an errors. it is 4 am here.
katherine – at 07:41
Proper fire extinguishers and smoke alarms are a neccessity. If the natural gas supply is disrupted, each house has to be checked by a gas company employee before the service can be restored to that area. If only the electricity fails, the appliance has an automatic shut-off on the gas line.
We have the fire extinguishers and smoke alarms but I look at these 100+ year old douglas fir trees all around the house and I think about my puny fire extinuisher and I am not comforted.
It sounds like with the gas issue that once the gas goes off it will stay off for the duration. After all who wants a gas employee-if one can be found tramping thru your home after he has already been to all your neighbors homes.
More than likely few gas employees will be willing to go from house to house! If the natural gas goes down it may very well be down for a long time.
Katherine at 0809,,,,,you did not say how close the fir trees were to your place,,,but have you heard of a defensible space? That is a common term used in fire prevention circles, so that a property home, would be less of a danger to a wildfire. I was in the Fire Marshals office for years, and we taught this all the time, but still far too many let brush and trees, touch their dwellings. A diaster waiting to happen. You can look this up on the internet “defensible space”.
If the gas goes out I will shut the valve off the gas at the meter and then check if the gas is back on every few days. This is standard precedure in earthquke country. You shut the gas off after a major quake.
For those with pools, you can buy a gas powered, high pressure water pump to put out a fire.
Here’s some high pressure pumps:
Gary Near Death Valley – at 10:05 “you did not say how close the fir trees were to your place,,,but have you heard of a defensible space? “
Thanks Gary, Yes I am aware of that term. However I am on a standard lot. 0.10 acres and not all of the trees are on my property. I worry that they could catch fire-from neighbors using their fireplaces without screens at the top of their chimneys and catch these big trees on fire then it will only be a matter of one falling or shedding burning debris on my roof.
I am just thinking more and more about the importance-for me-of having an alternate place to shelter if something happens here. We have managed to get a few of our frinds to prepare so maybe I will think more seriously about a plan B if something happens here. You know not have all my eggs in one basket sort of thing.
This past winter in Oklahoma we had huge and frequent wildfires. The burn ban lasted for months. One of the recommendations given was for people to keep their lawns cut short and to water them regularly (this was in the winter mind you, when you would not normally water your brown dormant lawn). It is amazing how fast a fire can travel with a thirty mile an hour wind in grass that is just a couple of inches tall. Some of the wildfires in Oklahoma blew right through small towns or portions of large towns catching multiple buildings and homes on fire. Many people lost everything that they had in their homes and outbuildings.
My point: Buy an old fashion non-gasoline push mower for fire protection if a pandemic occurs. By using this piece of equipment you can limit the fire danger without using up precious fuel. You can get a little exercise out of the deal also. Keep your lawn short.
The first couple of weeks of a pandemic will find my family and I clearing additional trees and brush around our home (we live in the middle of the woods). One reason being for fire protection, another reason being to create a better field of vision for our pack of watchdogs (mutts that bark a lot).
I guess I am a mutt too. LOL
Katherine, fireplaces without screens on the chimney: shouldn’t there be a regulation about that? I have no idea if we have one where we live. Actually, I guess we don’t, or the raccoons that moved in would’ve been thwarted by a screen. That’s one more thing to push local government to do. (There are so many local regulations already, but safety of others ought to make a difference - not like the rules to protect self, with helmets, etc.) Wonder if any fires have started that way yet.
Yes Jane there are regulations in place, in some juridictions that require screens on chimney opening, just for the reason of keeping sparks from spreading. Along with that, many places have not allowed wood shakes (cedar).
Buy several ABC fire extinguishers, good on all fires, electrical, gas, wood etc., they only cost $10–20 depending on size. And have everyone practice with it at least once, The opening “whoosh” can be scary the first time, don’t have a fire be your first time. This is good for pandemic or no pandemic. And remember “PASS”
P-Pull the pin (and turn the tank upside down on most-hose at bottom)
A-Aim at the base of the fire
S-Sweep the extinguisher, don’t hold it in one place
S-Side to side, the motion you use
Brought to you courtesy of years of hospital JCAHO/fire safety demonstrations!
Ceredwin, if we practice with the extinguisher, does that mean it has to be refilled? Thanks for the lesson.
Is there some kind of fireproofing that can be sprayed on an asphalt roof? We have mostly 60′ lot lines, so one unlucky/careless neighbor can take us all out. We have trees and shrubs near houses too. Maybe they can be fireproofed?? When I think about this, I want to build a concrete block house in the middle of the back yard.
jane – at 14:17 Ceredwin, if we practice with the extinguisher, does that mean it has to be refilled?
Once you break the seal on a fire extinguisher, the pressure will slowly bleed out till it is all gone. So you would have to refill it, no matter how much of it you use. Some are not refillable so in that case you would have to buy a new one.
Jane et al.:
The most common type of home fire extinguisher is a dry chemical powder. If you use one, use all of it. Don’t hold back. The powder will cause the valve to fail to re-seat and in a few minutes, the propellant gas will leak out, making it useless. Have more than one handy, in case your original attack didn’t completely extinguish the fire.
Most of these extinguishers these days are cheaper to replace than to recharge. The exception is when you get into the larger models (e.g. 10 lbs.)
Garden hoses are the very last resort. They don’t put out a fire that is going good. It is much better to jump right on a small fire with a fire extinguisher at hand, than to run around the house and drag in a garden hose to battle a fire that has gotten a five minute head start on you. I have seen many structure fires that didn’t respond to master streams putting down a thousand gallons per minute. Plus, the levels of heat, smoke and gas generated will reach lethal levels in minutes, and you likely not have the training, manpower, self-contained breathing apparatus nor structural firefighting gear to cope with it.
Of course, it is best if you don’t invite the demon inside with you. From my post on another thread:
Safety, safety, safety!!! - Some hard lessons that were taught to me by people in plastic bags (I honor their passing by relating the lessons of their untimely demise):
Candles and kerosene lights are charming - but they are also lit Molotov cocktails in your house. Propane and ‘coleman’ lanterns give off lots of light, but they are attached to a bomb. Battery-powered lights are far safer. You can’t have too many batteries.
Generators are cool - I have two. DO NOT run them in your basement, garage, in an attached building or under a window (the noise will drive you nuts anyway). A 4-KW generator probably puts out more carbon monoxide than your car. Carbon monoxide has a molecular weight of 30. Air is 29. CO will pretty much mix evenly in air. It is odorless, colorless and deadly. Also, make sure that you KNOW how to safely ground one and, DO NOT hard-wire it into your breaker box without going through a (professionally installed) transfer circuit. You will energize the entire circuit out to the street. At best, you will burn out the generator. At worst, you will kill some poor line worker trying to get your lights back on.
Charcoal grilling is wonderful - love that broiled flavor. However, there is probably no fuel-burning appliance that produces more CO than a charcoal grill - it just billows - same lessons as apply to generators. On that subject, camp stoves and propane grills are unsuitable for indoor use - they too are attached to a bomb.
Alternative heat sources are a must - however, remember that they emit CO. Have your fireplace or wood burning stove’s flue inspected and cleaned annually. Chimney fires are very common and tend to degrade your shelter (i.e. burn your house down). Keep anything combustible at least three feet away. If using a kerosene heater, be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of what fuel you are putting into it, and that the container the fuel is transported and stored in is not (and never has been) used to store gasoline. Have several good, fresh fire extinguishers handy.
Keep fresh batteries in your fire and CO detectors (and install them in every living space)- replace detectors if they are over ten years old (for common household fire detectors) or when recommended by the manufacturer, whichever is sooner. Have a plan for rapid egress for everyone in the family, a rally point and head-count.
Some cheap fire prevention, useful for little fires, is salt and baking soda. Keep a big box of each in every room. Never throw water on a grease fire.
thanks sarge for all the help. Where I grew up there was always one fire a year from someone starting a fire in their bathtub. I don’t think people have gotton any smarter. There was a story in the paper the other day about a family that had their utilities turned off. You know the rest….a candle that wasn’t tended caught the couch on fire and the mother and her two young sons died. The womans mother had voice contact with her daughter but the daughter wasn’t able to find a way out. We will all be at the mercy of our neighbors fire awareness.
Thanks again for everyones advice it gives me some things to think about while I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling….North Korea…. Bird flu….ARDS….Middle East……Fire. Who needs scary movies anymore
There are products that can be sprayed onto both the interior and exterior of your home to help prevent or slow down fires. Just google “fire retardant sprays”. There are also fire-resistant methods of building. For example, our cabin, surrounded by 1,000′s of acres of Natl Forest, is remote and uninsurable. It has a metal roof, and when we had to re-side it due to porcupine damage, we used Hardiboard (concrete-based) siding.
The first page in my flu prep presentation was on fire safety.
katherine -
Glad to help in any small way I can. It’s just that I have personally carried out the remains of folks who have done dumb things like using a charcoal grill indoors (it was raining, you see..), run a generator in the basement (so it didn’t get stolen, you see…), let a candle fall on a sofa, put it out with a pitcher of water and didn’t carry it outside so that the smouldering cushions could asphyxiate everyone in the house (the fire SEEMED to be out, you see…)
It seems doubly tragic to survive a natural disaster only to die 48 hours later from a stupid mistake.
well hellllo thereee!!
Since I am a volunteer fire Captain in a rural department, I will interject a few things.
any vegetation that provides a “ladder” to your structure.
Bump -maybe printing some of this out to post in the laundry rooms of apartment buildings, other high-density housing would help?? Coping with power-heat-cooking-water outtages Safety presentations to tenant/neighborhood associations?
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