I learned that at 5am this morning.
the first picture was soon after we called 911. It was ten minutes after that when water was finally getting into the garage. And the moment the water hit the truck, it exploded, waking people up for several blocks.
Dogs bark at cats moving around outside. Dogs bark at cats not moving around outside. Dogs bark at where cats used to move around outside a few years ago, before the deck was enclosed. Dogs will go absolutely apeshit at a pair of cats they can’t even see sitting quietly just outside the door. You can, with time, learn to grade the degree and species of ape feces they’re exhibiting so you know whether it’s the usual “It’s 5:30 and I’m a moron” freak-out or it’s the somewhat more rare “There’s someone outside and we’re all gonna die” crazed hysterical fit. The idea they would bark at a burning structure is so unsurprising it wraps back around to being shocking because I never imagined anyone would feel the need to express it.
Sorry about your garage and your truck. Do you know yet what started the fire? It’s amazing that the garage next door there didn’t go down in flames as well. It looks really close and the fire looks like it was just roaring!
Pat the doggies on the head and give them a good boy/girl cookie because while Derleth is right, dogs do bark at everything, they at least did their doggie job and let you know something was happening you should know about.
Give the pooch(es) a steak tonight for sounding the alarm. Mine got steak yesterday, but only because the mangy curs stole it off the counter when I wasn’t watching.
Below is an excerpt of a tale I told in the MMP this past spring about a fire I went to where the lack of barking dogs registered a false lack of urgency. The mentioned Fred is my elderly neighbor across the road.
Bert is a border collie, and as an intelligent dog, I knew from his bark that either there was Freddy Krueger was standing right outside the back door with a chainsaw, or something else funky was going on. The pop pop pop of the paint cans exploding got me out of bed toot sweet.
I took the pic right after I called 911. The fire got much larger, and burned the side of the neighbors garage. My aluminum canoe was ten feet away, and the front end oxidized. It was extremely violent. And when my air compressor exploded (I think), I thought that was a big boom. The truck exploding shook the house. I wish I would have had the presence of mind to take more pics or video, but it was really just surreal, so I wasn’t thinking. It was amazingly violent and amazingly hot. Most of the contents of the garage that weren’t metal were vaporized. The only non-metalic thing that didn’t burn were the contents of 3 bags of peat moss I had in there. It’s burnt on top, but everything below was still there. Weird.
Structure fires generate a lot of heat. My department burned a farmhouse this summer as a training exercise. We stationed our aerial truck about 60 feet away from the kitchen, and the heat melted the plastic lenses of the lights facing the house. The chief put me between the house and the truck with a hose to shield it from the heat, and I could feel the energy through my insulated boots. At one point , I thought I wouldn’t need to shave for a few days because my 2-day beard was singed off.
I also have a picture of a plastic five gallon bucket that was about 20 feet from the front porch, and it melted.
There’s no secret about the peat moss. That stuff holds a lot of water, and the heat driving off the water keeps the moss cool enough that it won’t burn until it’s dry. Drywall does the same thing.
Have you talked to the insurance company yet?
I’ll save you the groan of a black box/ peat moss joke.
I can’t tell what kind of truck that is. Didn’t someone, Ford maybe, have an issue with a defective CC switch causing a whole slew of fires?
Sorry about all this but thank goodness it didn’t spread further and, most importantly, that no one was hurt. Was the scorched building next to it your house?
Dude, sorry about your truck! :eek: That’s kinda scary.
No fun! I’m going through a little rough spot right now, but your story goes to remind me that there are people worse off than me.
Sorry to hear your news and sending supporting thoughts your way.
(Glad no one was hurt.)
Talked to the insurance guy, and for them it is officially undetermined as well. His theory is that it started in the garbage can. It sucks that I have to tell my neighbors that State Farm isn’t doing anything about their garage, they have to open their own claim with their insurance company. I can start diggin through the ruins now. See if my oragami collection survived.
I wonder what could have started a fire in the garbage can… some sort of spontaneous combustion, or what? Just curious, because we have a garbage can in our garage too.
Spontaneous combustion can originate in the strangest things. Most well known is a pile of oily rags but I recall a warehouse fire that was caused by decomposing rubber gloves.
Scary pics!
Now can we haz pix of the cute hero doggies?
Does it have garbage in it? I hear that’s how these things get started…
I just thought I would add about my week. My wife and I were both diagnosed with strep on Monday. Tuesday, my twin brother’s wife, that just gave birth to twins a little more than a week ago, went to the hospital with a pulmonary embolism or heart failure. Then last night my water heater gave out, and dumped it’s load on the basement floor.
One of those weeks, eh?
Sorry to hear about all your trauma. Whatever you do, stay away from sharp objects for a few days!!!
Looking at the photos, it was a very lucky thing the garage was detached.
So, was this an attempt to hide the most recent bodies, a warning from an associate, or garden-variety insurance fraud?
Inquiring minds want to know!
In all seriousness, I’m sorry to hear about your awful week, and I second the request for pictures of the hero doggies.
NurseCarmen, glad you and yours are ok.
So, where was your helmet’s face shield? Hubby melted his in a similar circumstance.
It got soft, but didn’t drip. I melted one previously when I was roasted in a burn trailer.
Sis-in law is finally, after a very tense day and a half, breathing in a near normal manner. The drugs are finally having an effect. My week has been minor illness and material loss. I’d rather have both of my legs broken and my house burned down than lose a family member. Especially a mother of 2 week old preemie twins.
And the turkey turned out great, so looks like the week has finally turned itself around for the better.