Exciting Afternoon...FIRE!

[RDrancher]

My wife and I were sitting on the couch today, enjoying a lazy afternoon and waiting for the Belmont Stakes to start. My wife said that she smelled smoke and watched outside to check it out. She saw flames and smoke coming from the front of a rental mobile home that sits back in the trees behind our neighbor's home. It looked like a fire in a barrel to me. She wanted to make sure, so I started a search for my boots. By the time I found them she was headed down the road and up their driveway at a full run. I looked at the fire and it was obviously not a barrel. The front porch was on fire and growing fast!

I had just regraded our gravel driveway this morning and left the tractor in front of our house. I grabbed my phone, jumped on the tractor, glanced at the number on my neighbor's mailbox on the way by and grabbed a bucketful of their driveway gravel at full tilt as I headed toward the fire. When I reached the porch to throw the first bucket load, I saw my wife coming around the corner of the trailer with a hose. The hose was about 5 feet too short with a big hole in it a foot from the end, but she gave it a go anyway. The length of the hose put here directly in the path of the smoke, so she couldn't get too close.. I threw her my phone and told her the address so she could call 911. I found out later that she had been beating on the backdoor of the trailer yelling FIRE before I got there. She figured that no one was at home.

It took five buckets of gravel thrown out and under the porch cover to get the upper hand on the fire. My wife had retreated behind the trailer figuring that if I didn't have a handle on the fire I would be pushing the porch down in the general direction of the hose. Smart woman! I grabbed the hose and kept the hotspots down. Then...the front door opens and out walks this young lady! She yells, "What the **** is going on?" My wife yells back at her, "Your ****** house is on fire!" :laughing: The fire dept arrived twenty minutes later to save the day.

My neighbor just stopped by and gave me a big bear hug. My wife is already working the books at a ranch rodeo, so she missed out on all the glory.

 

[dusty3030]

Good on you sir! If a man ever saw how quick a trailer house burns they'd never sleep sound in one again.

 

[dave1949]

Good job! And you didn't miss the next Triple Crown winner either.

Yeah, those trailers go fast and have a lot of toxic gases when they burn. That lady was very lucky and owes you and your wife a big thank you.

 

[LJH]

Wow! Quick thinking and fast acting from both of you, WTG. Disaster: averted. :applause:

 

[ultrarunner]

Well Done!

 

[forgeblast]

Wow awesome job!!

 

[square1]

Well Done!
Wow awesome job!!

Really! Your fast action undoubtedly saved the structure if not more. Once fire get's into a mobile home they go up really fast.

Twenty five + years ago a trailer at the end of the row in a park I lived in caught fire, all we could do was turn the garden hoses on the neighboring trailer to keep it cooled down. By the time the Fire Dept. arrived, which wasn't long at all, the first trailer was completely engulfed.

the front door opens and out walks this young lady!

Okay, this just begs the asking, Was she "Hot"? ( I slay me sometimes )

 

[Ken45101]

You used gravel from your tractor to knock down the fire? First time I've heard of that! Congratulations on you quick thinking! Maybe the fire department should give you a red light for your tractor

I will take this opportunity to put in a plug: if anyone has the interest and can make the time, join your local volunteer fire department! They almost certainly can use the help. Although it's been many years for me, that was probably the most rewarding time of my life and I miss it! But I'm too old now and too far away from the station.

Ken, life member, Forest Park Fire Dept.

 

[deerseeker001]

Good Job and Neighbor.

 

[sseelhoff]

Great job. You and your wife likely saved a life yesterday.

 

[dirt ditch]

That's quick thinking, using gravel to snuff out the fire. Did you hear how the fire started?

Knew a gal who's adult son smoked a cigarette on their front porch then threw it down without putting it out before going to bed. Several hours later they were woken at 3 am with the porch and front of the house engulfed in flames.

 

[dave1949]

I think a fair amount of fires originate on and under wood decks. Cigarettes, grills, fireworks, etc. Unless people are diligent about raking out below them, there is usually leaves and other flammable stuff down below.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good job on putting the fire out and for your wife being so observant. Scary to think what would have happened if she hadn't of smelled smoke when she did and then to feel the need to make sure it wasn't just a burn pile!!!!

Any idea what started the fire? Was it the young girl?

Eddie

 

[RDrancher]

The fire and comments from the girl seem a bit suspicious. She said that she had quit smoking, but her friend had left at 8am and may have dropped a cigarette when he left. I guess it's possible that it sat there under the porch and smoldered all day before catching the porch on fire, but who knows.

As far as getting the upper hand on the fire with gravel, I have to give that credit to the two years I spent fighting fires as a LA County Camp 9-1 helitack fire suppression crew member. When they drop you off with the helicopter at the head of a brushfire, you don't have access to water. You remove the fuel (brush) and throw lots of shovel loads of dirt on the fire line to smother it. We spent a lot of time training as a crew, suppressing oil fueled fires. We actually did it as a competition between crews.

I didn't have any dirt, so I used the next best thing I had on hand, caliche roadbase. I had to "throw" it under the porch cover with the bucket while also hitting the patio supports burning about 8 feet high. All these years of learning how to use the machine as an extension of my hands, control material in the bucket, including throwing it out in front of the machine paid off.

Eddie - My wife is an amazing person. I give her all the credit for saving this girl's life. I don't know if we could have gotten the upper hand on the fire if we had arrived five minutes later.

 

[k0ua]

Wow! JD good work on you and your wife's part. I am sure you saved her life. I salute you and your wife!:thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

I am totally in AWE. Most folks die in a trailer fire. You can be certain that the actions that you and your wife took SAVED A LIFE.

 

[HEC]

Amen to all the comments that have been made . You did a great service for sure and with quick thinking . As a retired fire fighter I know all to well how quick thinking can change an outcome . I can't believe it took 20 mins. for the first responders to get there even for a call dept. .

 

[RDrancher]

The sheriff's deputy arrived right as I took over the hose, but did nothing to help. I thought that was kinda weird. In defense of the volunteer fire dept, they're station is about fifteen minutes away and with it being the first weekend after school let out and George Strait's final concert going on, I'm surprised that anyone was there at all.

 

[Paul Thornton]

You and your wife save a life, good job.

L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake

 

[jerrybob]

Wow....great job. You and your wife not only saved a home but also a life.......well done!:thumbsup: