Sunday, October 22, 2023

Engulfed


 

12 comments:

  1. The house was previously gutted, no windows, dormers or doors. About 30 years ago the town fire department bought the farm house down the road and set it on fire and put it out about four times before letting it burn to the ground. Then put it out for good and buried the ashes. Foundation scar is still there.

    Spin

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    1. I was a newbie in the Volunteer Fire Department when we did one of those training burns. I was on the nozzle when we made the first attack. Quite the rush.

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  2. With the brush growing around it, it looks abandoned.

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  3. Replies
    1. No hydrants in the country. Rural fire departments use tankers or stock ponds for firefighting.

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  4. I’m certain they’ll save the foundation…

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  5. Local FD conducted smoke drill in abandoned house, accidentally burned it, ended up replacing multiple water heaters because hydrant system was not properly interconnected.

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  6. Sad to see an old farm house lost, but it does look long abandoned. I hope they did something to keep from setting the surrounding prairie on fire. Maybe bulldozed some fire breaks around the house that don’t show in the view angle? We can hope.

    I once responded (as a VFD firefighter) to an intentional burning of a no longer needed house. Guy lived in an ancient single-wide mobile home while he stick-built his own house maybe twenty or thirty feet away.

    When he got the new house done, instead of calling someone to remove the mobile home he decided that he and his son would burn the mobile home “slowly, from one end to the other,” and then cut up and haul away the leftover metal themselves.

    Welp.

    Guess he forgot to tell the mobile home the part about “slowly.” When he touched off one end it did what every other ancient mobile home does, which is burn like a match all at once — with his brand new house way too close to a roaring bonfire. He of course panicked and called 911. By the time we got there the mobile home was mostly burnt into a pile of hot metal, but happily radiant heat and sparks did not ignite his new house. Did scorch a nearby tree.

    When we got done squelching the remaining flames and he explained to us how it started, we put down our tools and laughed our asses off. I still laugh when I think remember it.

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  7. Looks like the economy in the US

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  8. As I remember, 1883 started with a scene like that.

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