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Have you ever witnessed a full scale blaze?
I'd like to tell you a story of a fire that stunned my sense and nearly caused my death.
My friend is currently working for an agency, I shall call my friend Mike for the sake of saving him any trouble (just in case it somehow gets back to him). Mike has been currently dealing with a lot of stock that comes back from various supermarkets and major chains. This stock isn't food and toys but checkout goods, such as recipt machines and chip and pin machines. My friends job is to sort the goods into various boxes and stack them on the right pallet. It sounds boring and it is, it is only temporary before they can get him on the road selling and installing these goods, but right now he has to do a bit of packing. In order to make these days of boxing and sorting go by easier he invites me along, someone who is currently waiting for his new uni year to start and has nothing better to do.
These boxes, a good 2000 of them, are located in a barn in a village/hamlet called Easton (near Huntingdon). This barn belongs to the farmer and he rents it out to a company. At the back of the barn is a massive mountain of corn which I like to slide down whilst I try and take my friends mind off his mundane task. The boxes are stacked on pallets, some just 10 boxes high, whilst others, stretching really high, up to 20 boxes. Boring you yet? Don't worry it gets interesting.
On a cold January day last wednesday my friend was listening to music via some speakers and my I-pod whilst using a small lamp to make the barn lighter and warm it up a little, the door had been closed to try and stop the cold air from blowing it. I had clambered and perched myself ontop of a stack of boxes (one of the larger stacks). Whilst my mate began his tast of unpacking the boxes the music cut out and a spark caused one of the boxes to light from the area where the lamp and speakers were. My mate, fearful for the electronic goods (namely my I-pod), kicked the box to one side.
This box promptly lit some polystyrene, which not only smells, burns very quickly but also gives off a thick black smoke. At this point, from my elevated position, I found this rather amusing, as my mate tried to stamp the box out. But that smile would soon fade. For the polystyrene caused another box to set alight and suddenly one whole stack was ablaze. I should also point out at this moment that the stacks are extremley close to one another. My mate panicked, he suddenly realised he couldn't get to these boxes as they were in a middle of the stack. He couldn't knock it to the floor and allow the fire to go out itself.
Instead the bright spark that he is (no pun intended), decided to waft the fire, that's right, pick up a piece of cardboard and waft it to other boxes. I looked, initially in humour, but soon in horror, as I realised this entire barn could burn down. I was so worried that the stock would be destroyed that I didn't even begin to realise the danger I was in. My friend was standing now near where my I-pod was, he was safe, the door was behind him and the boxes are less numerous in that area. I on the other hand was sitting on one of the stacks. Another stack set alight when I realised I had to move but then the middle area was lit.
I could not get down without setting myself on fire.
I clambered from stack to stack and I realised that my best chance of escape was to stand on one burning stack that had a window situated near it, allowing me to escape. As I leapt from a small stack to a large one, boxes began to fall. These boxes aren't the most stable of things. Coughing and REALLY feeling the heat I clambered onto the burning stack only for some of the boxes to fall away. Boxes which no longer contained anything as fire had burnt a whole in them and the plastic goods had fallen out. I did though safely make it through the window and leapt into the barn next door.
I ran around, stupidly looking for a blanket, hoping to put the fire out. I returned to my friend and I asked if it had got better, he was still in the barn and the door was open. He replied "No it's got worse... help me", he was pleading, he couldn't believe so much had gone wrong so quickly. I looked in the barn and the entire area was ablaze, the stack I was sitting on was now fully ablaze, my mate still helpless fanning and blowing the fire. That's right blowing it. We had to get away, this wasn't going to stop easily, so I dashed in, grabbed my I-pod and left.
Then the popping started.
Of course Corn + fire = loads of exploding corn. The corn was like gun shot rounds going off and soon the entire area was alerted to some travisty. My friend was hoping this wouldn't get back to his boss or the farmer, although I had no idea how the fact all his bosses stock had been destroyed was gonna go unnoticed. My friend called the fire brigade as a gang of 10 or so farmers turned up.
5 fire engines later and the fire was eventually doused. The entire barn burnt to the ground. My friend wasn't in any real trouble, but whether he has a job or not eludes me as I haven't seen him since.
You see I wasn't supposed to be with him during that incident, he was supposed to work alone. And so when Mike realised his boss was coming I had to leave. And I made it across 10 miles worth of fields before I got home.
Why did I tell you this story? Well it is by far the most interesting thing that has occured in my life in years. I have never witnessed anything quite so horrific but so exciting at the same time.
Have any of you been involved in a fire?
Dringo.
I'd like to tell you a story of a fire that stunned my sense and nearly caused my death.
My friend is currently working for an agency, I shall call my friend Mike for the sake of saving him any trouble (just in case it somehow gets back to him). Mike has been currently dealing with a lot of stock that comes back from various supermarkets and major chains. This stock isn't food and toys but checkout goods, such as recipt machines and chip and pin machines. My friends job is to sort the goods into various boxes and stack them on the right pallet. It sounds boring and it is, it is only temporary before they can get him on the road selling and installing these goods, but right now he has to do a bit of packing. In order to make these days of boxing and sorting go by easier he invites me along, someone who is currently waiting for his new uni year to start and has nothing better to do.
These boxes, a good 2000 of them, are located in a barn in a village/hamlet called Easton (near Huntingdon). This barn belongs to the farmer and he rents it out to a company. At the back of the barn is a massive mountain of corn which I like to slide down whilst I try and take my friends mind off his mundane task. The boxes are stacked on pallets, some just 10 boxes high, whilst others, stretching really high, up to 20 boxes. Boring you yet? Don't worry it gets interesting.
On a cold January day last wednesday my friend was listening to music via some speakers and my I-pod whilst using a small lamp to make the barn lighter and warm it up a little, the door had been closed to try and stop the cold air from blowing it. I had clambered and perched myself ontop of a stack of boxes (one of the larger stacks). Whilst my mate began his tast of unpacking the boxes the music cut out and a spark caused one of the boxes to light from the area where the lamp and speakers were. My mate, fearful for the electronic goods (namely my I-pod), kicked the box to one side.
This box promptly lit some polystyrene, which not only smells, burns very quickly but also gives off a thick black smoke. At this point, from my elevated position, I found this rather amusing, as my mate tried to stamp the box out. But that smile would soon fade. For the polystyrene caused another box to set alight and suddenly one whole stack was ablaze. I should also point out at this moment that the stacks are extremley close to one another. My mate panicked, he suddenly realised he couldn't get to these boxes as they were in a middle of the stack. He couldn't knock it to the floor and allow the fire to go out itself.
Instead the bright spark that he is (no pun intended), decided to waft the fire, that's right, pick up a piece of cardboard and waft it to other boxes. I looked, initially in humour, but soon in horror, as I realised this entire barn could burn down. I was so worried that the stock would be destroyed that I didn't even begin to realise the danger I was in. My friend was standing now near where my I-pod was, he was safe, the door was behind him and the boxes are less numerous in that area. I on the other hand was sitting on one of the stacks. Another stack set alight when I realised I had to move but then the middle area was lit.
I could not get down without setting myself on fire.
I clambered from stack to stack and I realised that my best chance of escape was to stand on one burning stack that had a window situated near it, allowing me to escape. As I leapt from a small stack to a large one, boxes began to fall. These boxes aren't the most stable of things. Coughing and REALLY feeling the heat I clambered onto the burning stack only for some of the boxes to fall away. Boxes which no longer contained anything as fire had burnt a whole in them and the plastic goods had fallen out. I did though safely make it through the window and leapt into the barn next door.
I ran around, stupidly looking for a blanket, hoping to put the fire out. I returned to my friend and I asked if it had got better, he was still in the barn and the door was open. He replied "No it's got worse... help me", he was pleading, he couldn't believe so much had gone wrong so quickly. I looked in the barn and the entire area was ablaze, the stack I was sitting on was now fully ablaze, my mate still helpless fanning and blowing the fire. That's right blowing it. We had to get away, this wasn't going to stop easily, so I dashed in, grabbed my I-pod and left.
Then the popping started.
Of course Corn + fire = loads of exploding corn. The corn was like gun shot rounds going off and soon the entire area was alerted to some travisty. My friend was hoping this wouldn't get back to his boss or the farmer, although I had no idea how the fact all his bosses stock had been destroyed was gonna go unnoticed. My friend called the fire brigade as a gang of 10 or so farmers turned up.
5 fire engines later and the fire was eventually doused. The entire barn burnt to the ground. My friend wasn't in any real trouble, but whether he has a job or not eludes me as I haven't seen him since.
You see I wasn't supposed to be with him during that incident, he was supposed to work alone. And so when Mike realised his boss was coming I had to leave. And I made it across 10 miles worth of fields before I got home.
Why did I tell you this story? Well it is by far the most interesting thing that has occured in my life in years. I have never witnessed anything quite so horrific but so exciting at the same time.
Have any of you been involved in a fire?
Dringo.
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"Oh your face is only half ugly"
"I'm barely legal"
oh those shoes are all muddy
"Oh these shoes are only just yours I'll have them"
"oh I only killed that man a little bit"
"I nearly died the other day"
Either you died or you didn't Dringo.
Either you died or you didn't Dringo.
FinalFantasyFanatic wrote:
> Although I would have liked to see all the corn popping.
> How big was this mound, exactly?
Mound? I called it the Mountain of corn :) Lets just say by standing ontop of it I'd sink right to the bottom and be covered in the stuff. It was a large mound.
But yet it was so bizarre, my mate honestly hoped no one would find out, hoped the fire brigade would get there before the barn burnt down, but it was fully ablaze whilst he was on the phone to them.
Those shotgun blasts, or the corn popping, will always remain in my memory.
> Although I would have liked to see all the corn popping.
> How big was this mound, exactly?
Mound? I called it the Mountain of corn :) Lets just say by standing ontop of it I'd sink right to the bottom and be covered in the stuff. It was a large mound.
But yet it was so bizarre, my mate honestly hoped no one would find out, hoped the fire brigade would get there before the barn burnt down, but it was fully ablaze whilst he was on the phone to them.
Those shotgun blasts, or the corn popping, will always remain in my memory.
Aha.
I love fire, it's some beautiful, yet so destructive at teh same time.
It's sort of like me.
I love fire, it's some beautiful, yet so destructive at teh same time.
It's sort of like me.
Ooch, nasty. I do hate fires - never been anywhere near one, apart form when a bit of my old school burnt down (when I was there) - but always had a little phobia about them.
Although I would have liked to see all the corn popping.
How big was this mound, exactly?
Although I would have liked to see all the corn popping.
How big was this mound, exactly?
When it comes to fire ive had some very close calls:
French Bangers: Had over a hundred in my draw at one point, but i decided to take a fuse out and see what would happen if i lighted a bit. I lit it with ease, and it split in two. The two pieces went whoosh out of my hand, bounced around my room, and then landed on the floor, where it started burning a hole in the carpet. I put it out. But the second one had eluded me, and had landed in the open draw, where all the bangers where! I only noticed it because it had started burning a piece of card in my draw where i keep rolling materials (rizzla and train tickets). Had it set the bangers off, i could have easily lost a hand, but thats not my worst experience.
Sofa: When my rents went to spain this year, they left me to disspose of an old sofa set as they had purchased a new set just before leaving. I was supposed to smash it up and store the wood. Instead, i smashed it up, and just chucked it into a massive pile on the garden lawn, poured about a litre of petrol on it, and set it a-blaze. HUGE mushroom cloud went up which was very kool. But the fire was far bigger than i intended, and it almost set a pine tree alight next to my house! This was in the summer when everything was very dry, so i was lucky. It did leave a nice black hole on the lawn, which still hasnt healed over haha.
Sodium Chlorate: I have loads of this stuff, useful for making smoke grenades etc Its used for killing tree stumps and loads of plants at once. Mix it with sugar, light it, and you get thick smoke for a minute or two. Anyways, i made a fair amount of the mixture up in a glass jar in my garden once, and had several small candles underneath it to get it too go off, since it was pretty damp. After 5 minutes the mixture was liquid and about ready to go off, but it just wouldnt! So i got frustrated, and went over to kick it. The instant before i kicked it, the match heads already in the mixture ignited! You usually use them to light it, but they had failed and i left a few in. Soon as they ignited, the whole mixture went off, but not slowly like its supposed to, but in one go!
A roaring, and i mean roaring, blue jet-like flame came out the end of the jar, burning for a couple of seconds. I had lined up for the kick but seen it light, then paniced and kicked it anyway, which set my shoe on fire! I managed to get it off in the end, but it burnt the end of my foot, but i was lucky. Why? Because i found out sodium chlorate can be used as an explosive, and if the power is confined and ignited like it was, it can behave as one! Could have quite easily taken my leg off, not to mention throwing glass shards everywhere.
French Bangers: Had over a hundred in my draw at one point, but i decided to take a fuse out and see what would happen if i lighted a bit. I lit it with ease, and it split in two. The two pieces went whoosh out of my hand, bounced around my room, and then landed on the floor, where it started burning a hole in the carpet. I put it out. But the second one had eluded me, and had landed in the open draw, where all the bangers where! I only noticed it because it had started burning a piece of card in my draw where i keep rolling materials (rizzla and train tickets). Had it set the bangers off, i could have easily lost a hand, but thats not my worst experience.
Sofa: When my rents went to spain this year, they left me to disspose of an old sofa set as they had purchased a new set just before leaving. I was supposed to smash it up and store the wood. Instead, i smashed it up, and just chucked it into a massive pile on the garden lawn, poured about a litre of petrol on it, and set it a-blaze. HUGE mushroom cloud went up which was very kool. But the fire was far bigger than i intended, and it almost set a pine tree alight next to my house! This was in the summer when everything was very dry, so i was lucky. It did leave a nice black hole on the lawn, which still hasnt healed over haha.
Sodium Chlorate: I have loads of this stuff, useful for making smoke grenades etc Its used for killing tree stumps and loads of plants at once. Mix it with sugar, light it, and you get thick smoke for a minute or two. Anyways, i made a fair amount of the mixture up in a glass jar in my garden once, and had several small candles underneath it to get it too go off, since it was pretty damp. After 5 minutes the mixture was liquid and about ready to go off, but it just wouldnt! So i got frustrated, and went over to kick it. The instant before i kicked it, the match heads already in the mixture ignited! You usually use them to light it, but they had failed and i left a few in. Soon as they ignited, the whole mixture went off, but not slowly like its supposed to, but in one go!
A roaring, and i mean roaring, blue jet-like flame came out the end of the jar, burning for a couple of seconds. I had lined up for the kick but seen it light, then paniced and kicked it anyway, which set my shoe on fire! I managed to get it off in the end, but it burnt the end of my foot, but i was lucky. Why? Because i found out sodium chlorate can be used as an explosive, and if the power is confined and ignited like it was, it can behave as one! Could have quite easily taken my leg off, not to mention throwing glass shards everywhere.
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