# A reminder: Fire can HURT YOU! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 1, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984 "2004-07-01T01:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/1 "2004-07-01T01:56:27Z")
One day about a week ago I came home to find the business beside my apartment building completely engulfed in flames. They are a lawn care company, and apparently a storage shed full of liquid fertilizer and pesticides spontaneously combusted from the stifling heat outside and an explosion occured (thankfully no one was present when it happened). Our properties are separated only by a chain-link fence, and the flames were shooting up about 30 feet in the air. A fire marshall was telling everyone in the area to close their windows since the smoke was full of who-knows-how-many toxins and carcinogens. I got up to my place and shut everything up pretty quickly. What I’m pitting is the total STUPIDITY of some people I saw hanging around. There was a little gaggle of morons standing not 10 meters from the fire, laughing and having a great time like it was a good ol’ bonfire. I was getting ready for them to break out the weenies and marshmallows. There were three neighborhood kids riding their bikes back and forth not even 10 FEET from the flames, and one particularly dense kid was poking a stick at the fire through the links of the fence to see how much it would burn (oh, btw, good job on watching your brats, parents of said kids). Because the fire was fuelled by highly combustible materials, and considering there was another storage shed full of many of the same materials very close by, there could have been another explosion _at any time_ . I also wonder how many of these idiots are going to wake up someday with a super-tumor caused by whatever the hell they must have inhaled in that smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Kluge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a183cd/32.png) [@Kluge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kluge)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/2 "2004-07-01T02:09:22Z")
Something about fire I’ve never understood is how it can half-hypnotize people, myself included. I’m not surprised by the people goggling at an enormous fire. Like moths… What I am surprised by is that people wouldn’t heed the carcinogen warning (must’ve been real punks). And if the fire marshall knew about another chemical storage area, he should’ve cleared everyone out IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/3 "2004-07-01T02:21:06Z")
> [@Kluge](#): > > And if the fire marshall knew about another chemical storage area, he should’ve cleared everyone out IMHO. I couldn’t help thinking that, too. What I figure is that he tried to earlier, then gave up and was just waiting for someone to win themself a Darwin Award. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/4 "2004-07-01T02:28:46Z")
> [@](#): > > A reminder: Fire can HURT YOU! No, this is false. Fire can smell fear. As long as you’re not afraid of it, it can’t hurt you. Allow me to demonstrate… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/5 "2004-07-01T02:31:07Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Allow me to demonstrate… _douses SPOOFE with a bucket of water_ Dumbass. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/6 "2004-07-01T03:06:26Z")
I’ll never forget that Recue 911 show I saw where some kids were playing around on a skate ramp in the back yard, and one of them lit himself on fire with gasoline. Ah, good times… luckily for him he knew how to stop drop and roll. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/7 "2004-07-01T04:03:23Z")
Goddammit, QED, I was just about to prove that positive thinking can help me live FOREVER. That, and my Ring of Fire Absorption +5… ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/8 "2004-07-01T07:05:54Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > I’ll never forget that Recue 911 show I saw where some kids were playing around on a skate ramp in the back yard, and one of them lit himself on fire with gasoline. Ah, good times… luckily for him he knew how to stop drop and roll. Oh boy, [Shatner] Rescue 911! [/Shatner] ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/9 "2004-07-01T10:51:12Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > There was a little gaggle of morons standing not 10 meters from the fire, laughing and having a great time like it was a good ol’ bonfire. See, that’s why American’s pay no attention to Canada. You speak of things like “meters”, which measure electrical consumption, in strange ways. We have stocked our shelves with 2-litre soft drinks. How much more compromise do you expect from us? If you cut us do we not bleed? Won’t someone think of the children? ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reminder-fire-can-hurt-you/252984/10 "2004-07-01T13:11:04Z")
Professor! Fire! Hot!