Art & Inspiration Fire/Safety First/ a Huge Part Of Our Garage Time

This came to mind this AM reading another thread on garage mishaps/injuries. I have too many stories when thinking on this subject, Fire/burns are the worst, fuel/gas tanks. #1 had the 2" square reese bolt on frame receiver on my van and it tore loose on one side, took it to a fab shop for repair and the man welded it all back together with added gussets etc, the gas tank was pretty close IMO, So I went outside of his shop while he was welding. He comes and gets me, shows me the repair and I heard the gas bubbling in the gas tank, YIKES ! he said, no worries, he was still in business 12 years ago when I retired. #2 A fuel tank line on a Midget racer, a man I knew for years, pretty good racer then car owner, the story he told was removing the fuel filter to clean, some alcohol leaked, soaked his shirt some and when putting it back together, dropped his trouble light, sparked and lit him up. Was in a burn unit, left him with some big time scaring, he stated, all the years of sitting in one, never an injury, burned himself up in the garage being stupid. #3 popped in my old brain while typing. Another fellow racer was welding in his garage and a 5 gallon metal jerry can with alky blew up and he was in a burn unit, missed a year of racing, went on to a very successful driver. #4 another bad story, a group of racers was having a barbeque, home owner walked by, story was the grill 20 feet away and the gallon gas can he was carrying blew up, burned him terrible, near death, horrible scarring, he did survive. For years my Dad washed his car parts with white gas and gasoline, even in his ba*****t, he had a gas furnace, never a problem, used to paint in the ba*****t also. This might explain why I'm Luckier than Smart, could be a genetic thing. IMO welding anywhere near fuel/gasoline is dangerous business. The only mild burn injury I received was when working in a shop, they had a natural gas torch for heating up parts for press fits etc. When I lit it up the sparker was ****y, a few too many clicks and a huge flash, took my eyebrows, some hair and I looked like a bad sunburn for awhile, scared the hell out of me, my eyes Ok, had safety gl***es on. I sometimes think how lucky we as car hobby guys because sometimes stupid shows up, not just behind the wheel stupid. I have C02 and ABC fire extinguishers, safety can for rags, no fuel of any type anywhere near when I'm welding, double check safety locks on my 4 poster always, try not to get in a hurry, in general try hard to keep my head out of my ***. LOL, Be Safe my friends.

 

Two stories to ad. First, when I was in Jr. High and heavy into mini bikes. I had a round gas tank that leaked around the fuel fitting. Like a dump *** I fired up a propane torch and proceeded to try to solder up the leak. Why it didn't go **** I still have no idea and that was almost 60 years ago. Second, when I was working as part of Project Transition in the machine shop at the Army depot I was stationed safety was a big issue. The boss related an incident when a local took a torch to an empty 55 gallon drum that hadn't had gas in it for over 30 years. Yup, it exploded and killed him. As the saying goes, "Let's be careful out there".

 

Lit my shirt on fire. Twenty minutes prior to using a wiz wheel I had been helping a student start a P.S. line. Dripped fluid on my shirt. ATF is not spark resistant. I now have a reversible wiz wheel,

 

Never smother a carb fire with a greasy rag...

 

There is nothing that scares me more or that I have respect for than fire. I have smoke detectors in my shop wired to my alarm system, I have multiple fire extinguishers mounted in the building and I am diligent about handling of any rag or paper towel I use with any type of solvent. I never leave pieces that have been welded and are still warm anywhere but on a steel bench, and never leave the shop just after welding anything. My parts cleaner lid is also always closed. I carry at last one extinguisher in my vehicles.
Prevention is important.

 

I was working on my quad runner 10 years ago. The carb was leaking a little after I rebuilt it. I tried to start it and it backfired! I tried to smother the fire out with a rag I had laying around. It started burning! I threw it down and it landed on an old mattress I had in the garage for my dogs to lay on, starting that on fire also. I did not have a fire extinguisher! By now the fire on the carb was burning more and I thought for sure the full gas tank right over the carb was going to explode and burn down my garage. I ran out, tripping over a 5-gallon bucket to get my garden hose to the fire(s). I ran back in and put the flames out. The next day I threw out the burnt mattress and cleaned out my garage. Right after I bought a shiny, new red fire extinguisher that hangs next to my door. P.S. I had about 5 pounds of gun powder and over a thousand rounds of high-power ammo ten feet away!

 

As a volunteer fireman, me and another guy put on our Scott air packs and entered a ba*****t full of flames. As we were going through putting out hotspots we heard loud cracks of noise. Thinking it was a gas line back firing we left. During cleanup afterward we found a whole arsonal of ammunition in the ba*****t.

 

I’ve gotten way more careful over the years with welding and cutting. I do it all outside. I spray the ground with water and anything within the area that might ignite.
After I’m done I’ll grab a few beers and sit and do a fire watch.
Both shop and garage are all wood built, hence moving the work outside.

 

Never try to put out an interior fire with a gallon of windshield wiper fluid........ it has alcohol in it.

 

Working on my five window rebuild (Blowing this thing apart thread), I always remove the gas tank while grinding and welding thanks to a previous thread on fire in shops.

 

Yep, can never be too cautious. one brain farther and **** you are seriously injured or worse. goes for grinding, drilling, etc etc

 

I ALWAYS sit in my shop and have a beer or two after any welding. The smell of smoldering paper and/or rags is so subtle that it takes a bit to sniff out. Besides, I like beer…

 

Fire watch

 

The worst injury in my Tool & Die/Pattern shop was an apprentice cut his thumb off using the band saw. I put a tourniquet on his wrist, sat him down, we picked up his thumb and put it in the refrigerator. The paramedics were there in minutes, took him and his thumb to the ER, Dr's reattached his thumb, he lost the use of the middle joint, so it was way better than no thumb. The Paramedics asked me how I knew to put the thumb in the fridge, my answer was seemed like the thing to do. This young man worked for me 7 years, good guy/employee/craftsman was sorry to see him move on. I'm proud to say, I've worked on cars, in Tool & Die shops all my life, still a DIY guy and have all my fingers/ eyes, the only injuries I ever received of consequence were from my car racing hobby. I always say, I'm Luckier than Smart, Thankful to be here and my Guardian Angel has watched over me from childhood till present day.

 

When starting out as a kid, I got in the habit of putting my left hand on on the lathe chuck to slow it down when turning off, Stupid, Yes, where I served my apprenticeship, zero safety training/advise of any type, nothing but constant **** chewing over something, So........ my wedding ring, a thin gold band caught the edge of the chuck key opening, ripped the ring off my finger, did not break finger, but very sore finger/hand for weeks. You get the **** jobs starting out, had to take die cast dies/molds apart for repairs and was using a big drift holding that with a vice grip, using a big hammer. So.......... management comes over, chews my **** for being a *****, takes the drift, holds with hand, winds up, big swing and precedes to smash his hand, he had to have surgery, casts on for months. Then when he comes back after a week or so off with his cast I get called into his office and get my **** chewed for quite a while for laughing when he hit his hand, it was a wonderful 4 year relationship with him as my boss/employer.(his Daddy's Shop) I did learn a lot there from fellow workers, all journeymen, they all took a liking to me after I laughed at the boss for smashing his hand, my thought was, Dumb ***, what did you think was going to happen, duh. The Old Timers shared their skills and some great advice that I p***ed on to my employees when I had my shop. You need all your fingers, both eyes, they all have a purpose. Stop ! Think about what you're doing, no extra pay for stupidity. When I did train young men I watched them like a hawk and tried to point the dangers of operating machines, 36 years in business only the one serious injury.

 

When I worked at Jaguar had a tech that disconnected the fuel line in a V12 and put his finger over the end and had an apprentice crank it over .

he was “ checking fuel pressure “did the 3-4 times spaying himself and the engine in fuel . well something sparked he went up like a tiki torch .
Ran out of the shop into the street !!
A transit bus stopped and the driver doused him with the extinguisher.

he was burnt bad and the dealership got some hefty fines for not being up to date with extinguishes and safety equipment.


A funny one was way back I always clean off rtors and drums with brake clean . Do it over my trash can as I don’t want a messy floor .
Anyways at work clean off a set of drums and a set of rotors .
Pull out my air grinder and clean off the rust from the rotor mounting brakets in my vise .


Well a spark happened and BOOM !!!!! My garbage can went off like a Grenade !!!!
No injury’s but trash all over the shop , sales guys though a car fell off the hoist it was so loud.
This one was pretty funny but taught me about fumes and vapours settling on the ground and to be mindful of all chemicals I use before welding or grinding .

 

Just so happens that I really don't feel like talkin'
But I can't p*** by here without sayin
I hate fires.

 

Another case of stupid remembered this AM, I was building a T-bucket 1966, I had purchased from my local speed shop ( junkyard) 283 V8 /powerglide/driveshaft/rearend for running gear. I was knocking off the parallel spring mounts using a hammer and chisel to break welds, got one off, on second bracket I miss hit chisel and whacked myself in my ankle, I was using my foot to hold rear end still, a trip to the ER , some s***ches and a painful reminder when putting socks on for a few years. In my previous post above that's why and to this day I always hold a drift or whatever with vice grips when swinging a hammer, I do learn from my mistakes and "experience" I had to earn it like we all have. A few examples, where is your hand going if that wrench slips or bolt breaks, lift heavy objects smart, like most here my back is junk from not being smart. I've done many things in my life so I have many stories/adventures to share.

 

Hello,

We were teenagers and knew the dangers of gasoline and other inflammables, like most others. So, when we had a small gallon of gasoline for reserve start up motor gas, it was kept in a cool area of the backyard garage, under the counter, away from the sun, and on a cool concrete floor. Our large red fire extinguisher was always at the ready next to the opening garage door. Luckily, we never had to use it at home.

We knew how easily thing can go wrong. In our metal shop cl*** and auto shop cl***es, the first week was always an eye opener. The instructors always gave a safety demonstration of the things that could go wrong in the shop(s) and how to correct the resulting action. As second year teenagers, we had already gone through the dramatic samples and acting our teacher(s) did for the students.

So, we were ingrained from those heavily involved days and it lasted into the future years, with family and all. Even during our sailboat ownership/sailing adventure days, we were required to have a fire extinguisher aboard, with renewal checks yearly.

Knowing now how many of the large red fire extinguishers it takes to put out a blazing fire in a car, we are all under powered with one red can large or small bolted to the garage wall. Our 1940 Willys Coupe was on fire, FED by the remnants of a 2.5 moon aluminum gas tank. It took at least 8 large red cannisters and it was still burning inside of the drivers area.

Finally, the crew at Lion’s Dragstrip and Atts Ono just let it burn out by itself. By the time everyone left the dragstrip at 10 p.m. around 10:30pm, the last cannister was used to snuff out what was still on fire. It had burned what was going to burn and the only things left were the metal parts. So, that was very traumatic to watch the helplessness of the white powder coming out of the extinguishers, hoping it would put out any fire.

The racers that came over with their bottles and the fire crew from the dragstrip were emptying their cannisters like there was no tomorrow. Fire wins all of the time…

But, recently, a new product came on the market and from the video results, reading reports of usage and photo proof, it is one product we all need in our garages, let alone one in each car. But, in the 62 years of having fun with hot rods, drag racing cars and endless supply of road worthy surf trip cars, we never had a car fire that required a red cannister of extinguisher stuff.

“The Fire Safety Stick, fire extinguishing device is a simple and easy way to ensure that you are prepared in the event of a fire in your home, vehicle, caravan or boat. It weighs far less than a conventional fire extinguisher and can operate for much longer. And best of all, there is NO residue left behind after use.”

So, currently, we have two extinguishers. If it were our choices, the house would have several of the new element fire extinguishers in the kitchen and laundry room. They are easy to mount and/or conceal, whatever it is your choice. My wife can safely use it when necessary. Although, it hasn’t been necessary to use any extinguisher since 1960. 61 years of preparedness, but never the need. Yes!!! It is house insurance, like life insurance. We have it, but don’t want to cash in the policy.

My wife knows where it is located along all other emergency tools and shut off items. When she saw the slim tube, and the procedure was shown to her, she said, “no problem.” She also said that this new device would have taken up less space in the sailboat(s) we have owned and used weekly for 20 years.

The street side whole house water shut off, the gas line shut off tool and the water heater information for emergencies, too. Also, the ever-present short surfboard resting nicely in its padded board bag.

Jnaki

If anyone, other than my wife, needs access to any of the emergency tools or the extinguishers, we just say: “They are next to the surfboard in the garage.” They are the only things sitting outside of cabinets and drawers, so they are easy to find and use if necessary.


P.S. After only using the fire extinguisher (actually, over 8 large red cans) to try and put out the fire inside of our 1940 Willys Coupe at Lion’s Dragstrip, it was a lost cause. Technology has advanced since 1960. So, hopefully, the new “fangled” suppressant will be sufficient to put out any gasoline or whatever fire with one stick or a couple.

Here is hoping for the next 60 years, there is not a situation where we will need the extinguishers. Ever!
plus, the clean up after all of the white stuff that came out of the 8 bottles in 1960 was a nightmare. The new stuff is so much better in the explanation demonstration. Here is hoping we never have to use it. but, it is "home/garage insurance of the portable kind..." YRMV

 

A small Fire story, my Tool & Die shop, I had a conventional EDM machine, Electrical Discharge Machine, machines with electricity off the male carbon you create to get the female shape in a tank of oil, fumes ac***ulate above oil level and will ignite if oil level drops, fortunately the few times this happened, I saw it, shut it off, fire stopped, but a very exciting moment with the flash bang/big flame. My insurance company forced me to purchase a pricey halon fire suppression system to install on it because I 'm guessing the fire thing was not uncommon. It's the fuel fumes, Gasoline Very dangerous, alcohol not as bad and I used to make new friends at race tracks when an ***hat would be pouring fuel in the racer next to me with the cancer stick in his mouth, especially when split shows with gasoline burning racers. I do not remember anyone blowing themselves up at a race track, did see more than one car burn down as tracks Never had enough fire extinguishers, how/why an explosion in the pits never happened I don't know.

 

Besides the multiple fire extinguishers in my shop and home I have two in my Comet, (avatar) one is mounted between the bucket seats and an Element is mounted just behind the drivers seat on the roll bar. Hopefully none of them will ever be needed.
Jim

 

You ok Tom?

 

I think we all carry the small ABC type fire extinguisher in our hobby cars. many years ago I was traveling with a group 20 cars and a man in our group pulled over, smoke billowing from under the hood, several of us ran over, he opened hood we all hit the fire with our small extinguishers and got it out, lucky for him several guys had one, one or two would have not put it out, pretty big fire, a fuel line to carb failed, electric fuel pump not wired to key switch we were told afterward, he had to get back in car and flip toggle switch as we we sprayed, we saved his car for which he was grateful. I've run electric fuel pumps. power wire off the key switch. Was not at this car fire story a good friend was, 2 cars/2 small extinguisher, electrical fire, car burned to the ground.

 

I try to do all the welding first thing in the shop. Then if I set something on fire that takes a while to get going, I am still out there to put it out. Last week I was grinding a piece of steel, and a few minutes later I smelled something burning. The sparks had set a piece of steel wool that was on the floor on fire. Didn't think that could happen. Try it sometime, it's very weird.

 

I run mine through a oil pressure two terminal switch. No oil pressure fuel pump will not run.

Never use a incandescent drop light around fuel. One drop hitting the bulb instant disaster. Fire is the worst.

 

Good idea…..I’m stealing it

 

We had a bad fire in the shop 40 years ago. This shaky electrician we knew came to help ***ess what all was going to be needed. He's climbing up in all this mess, insulation hanging down, etc., and he gets up to where we'd had this big stuffed animal head up on the wall. A moose or something. Its all burned to hell with big gl*** eyes staring out........scared the **** out of him, almost fell off the ladder and he had to get down and go to his truck for another drink.

 

At one time car shows expected an ABC extinguisher to placed by the left front tire. I believe it was on the sign up form. The Pageant of the Thunderbird in SoCal still does. I continue to carry one in our 56 Victoria and my driver pickup.

 

Every Concours d’Elegance event that I have shown at requires a fire extinguisher to be placed by the vehicle, location depends on the event. Most also require a wheel chock since that Packard took an unexpected bath in a lagoon a few years ago.
I chock the wheels of any vehicle that I put on my four post lift.
Safety is no accident.

 

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst….Jack Reacher