PT On Fire

[woodlandfarms]

OK, so I hope to draw a funny moment for all of you.

Two days ago I was welding that darn handle on the PT. Mistake #1 was welding on the PT, #2 was doing nothing to mitigate the fact it is a rolling oil bath. #3 was... well, I will get to it.

So zap zap with the stick welder, flip up my shield and take a look. Crappy weld but I can live with it. I get up, turn, and look back and there is smoke coming up from the floorboard. I look again, and now I have flame. Holy crap. I have caught all the oil and wood that is under the floor board on fire. Now I panick. I am in the garage, and I have broken the cardinal rule. No Fire Extinguisher. I have to say, it was a Jim Carey Moment. Trying to do so many things at once. Bascially I tried to blow it out. Yes. Yes I did. And that got me a larger flame and black soot on my face. So then I panicked, grabbed a bucket, but it had stuff in it and, well, just can't dump it on the floor (meantime flame is begining to lick higher and higher). So Finally I run around the side of the house and fill the bucket with water, but I am fat and out of shape and it is uphill... So I get back to the tractor with half a bucket of water... Pour it on. Flame goes out.... then boom, back on again. So back down the hill, more water, run back up,,,, this time it is out. Run down again, get another bucket just to make sure.... (remember I am now standing in a pool of oil, water and 220 electricity for the welder).

Well, I pull the floor pan. Not a scratch. But then it hits me. My PT has a fire extinguisher mounted on the hood. I had the hood tipped up to disconnect the battery but I must have seen it half a dozen times running around with my head cut off like I did.

Carl

 

[toy]

Woodlandfarms glad there wasn't any damage to your machine or garage and I am glad that after the fact that you can laugh about it but at the same time realize how bad it could have been.
Your scare gives me a mental moment to think of how or what I have on hand to fight a fire should I ever have one. I, like yourself, have a fire extinguisher on the pt. I have three bags of sand in my garage for sand blasting if I would think of it that would smother out a fire, I have tarps that I could throw on it to smother it out, And a couple of jackets that I could beat one out with maybe.
My neighbor beat out a fire once with a baseball hat. Even though that hat has a few holes burnt in it, its value went up in our books and it is a good conversation piece. Oh yeah I just about forgot I have fire extinguishers in my garages in my basement and in my kitchen. I'm glad to do the fire fighting drill exercise, one never knows when they might need to know this. Others might want to go through their own fire fighting and even escape drill.
When our son was about 4 years old we had a chimney problem and it caused smoke to come out into the house. Our son ran and got in his bed and covered up his head and that incident made me realize the importance of fire drills especially if you have young children.

 

[ponytug]

I'm glad that you, the PT, and your house are all OK.

It reminds me of the guys I used to see welding gasoline tanks, on the cars, by lying on the ground underneath them. I never saw one burn but it always gave me the heebie jeebies...

I think that you can never practise too much on fire drills... Well, maybe, but most of us err on the too few side. I know I do. As they say, practice makes perfect, and more to the point, it becomes habit that kicks in under fire...

I never fuel or work on vehicles under cover. I remember once being in a Midas shop and they lifted the hood on my car to work on the brakes. I queried them on it and the said that ever since one car had its engine catch fire while they were working elsewhere on the vehicle, they lift the hood to be able to get fire extinguishers onto the source of fires. I gather that the fire was generally thought to be unrelated to their work, and that the car was a total write off. It certainly made me think.

Having lived through a number of solvent fires professionally, I can attest to how fast things get out of hand and how hard you have to hit solvent or chemical fires to get the upper hand.

I have three 10-16lb fire extinguishers, and three hose bibs with hoses on them around the front of my work shop, with more inside. I'm working on reducing the two minute start/set up time on the fire pump. 120 seconds is forever when you have a fire.

My basic view is that if I don't get it out in 3-4 minutes, everything is going to be a total loss. Ideally, our closest fire company is 15-20 minutes away... Did I mention that 120 seconds is forever?

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

.... But then it hits me. My PT has a fire extinguisher mounted on the hood. I had the hood tipped up to disconnect the battery but I must have seen it half a dozen times running around with my head cut off like I did.

Carl

OUch! you made me laugh so hard!! :laughing: Glad everything it O.K. and you too!

 

[crusty 1]

Nothing too funny about a fire so glad all worked out for you!now you could bring a package of wienies with you next time but I,d think unless it was cooking oil on fire they may not taste so good.Anyway glad you,re ok as well as your property.As a past vol. firefighter I,v seen many fires with not so good outcomes.Fire extinquishers are always good to have at hand but I,v seen plenty that were too empty to do any good.Gotta remember to check them!You did good at keeping your head,many panick and thats the worst thing to do.Dave

 

[smartguyz]

Wow. That's quite a story. I'm thankful that you're OK.

-Rob

 

[Thomas]

By the sounds you weren't out of shape..like they say one can run faster scared than mad.

Glad all okay.

 

[BobRip]

Thanks for sharing that. It makes us all think. Glad you and tractor plus house are OK.

 

[cqaigy2]

Glad you weren't hurt Carl. But i haveta admit the picture you made was pretty funny, especially the fire extinguisher on the hood. :laughing:

 

[jaquetarr]

It was a Blessing you and your machine were not hurt. Seems there was a story a while back regarding a PT fire & the repairs. Expensive and upsetting.

The comment about sand reminded me that all boiler rooms on ships for many years are / were required to have a sand box of XXXX cu ft capacity to put out fires. For the most part it was a good place for the fireman to hide his wisky jug.

Glad you did not break the last link in the chain to disaster
Rgds, tim