On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 22:48:50 GMT, Don Bruder wrote:
In article ,
Dave Hinz wrote:

Been there, done that. Don't like it. One of our house fires started
in an unattended house on a day with 40 MPH winds. Can you say
"blowtorch"? The only thing we could do, as you say, was protect the
exposures.

Gawd, *THAT* had to be a nightmare...

Well, it was pretty exciting when one neighbor came over and said "His
car is gone, but I think his parents used to live there with him..."
For a while, we didn't know if we'd have a recovery situation, or just
the fire. Turned out they had moved out years before (he didn't talk to
anyone much).

Whic means 45 minutes by tanker, or more. Those things drive like,
well, like things that are really big, slow, and filled with water.

Hmmm... Yeah, I guess that would be an accurate description

Did I mention top-heavy?

"Only" 45 minutes from the call to 911 to seeing a "ready-for-action"
firetruck pull onto the property is doing *EXTREMELY* well indeed.)

Long time when you're on the calling end of the phone, though.

Believe me... I know from experience *EXACTLY* how long a time it is
when you're the one on the calling end - Without going into the math
involved to get a multi-digits-to-the-right-of-the-decimal number,
"For-freakin'-EVER!" is a perfectly reasonable approximation

Is that metric, or imperial "for-freaking-ever", though? These details
are important. FWIW, the ride there seems pretty damn long too.

Saved the horses? Fantastic.

The only way the horses were ever in danger was if the surroundings
caught, or something "turned violent" (exploding propane tanks, ammo,
etc) in the fire. Otherwise, they were far enough away that they were
all safe.

I've been told that horses, when they see a dangerous situation, want
to run "home". That's bad if "home" is the barn that's on fire.

When the ammo started cooking off, the closet that it was
stored in had already fallen into the basement, so that was pretty much
a non-issue. Amazingly enough, the largest hazard (aside from the fire
itself) was the exploding canned goods - You'd hear a weird KER-THWUMP!,

oh, yeah. You bet. Also all those spray-paint cans in your basement
shop? Nice popping. Ammo sounds like firecrackers or popcorn.
Underwhelming.

and next thing you knew, there was this jagged hunk of metal bouncing
past you at high speed! Two years later, I'm *STILL* finding tin-can
shrapnel scattered around the property.

That'll make an impression on you...

That was another fire recently, at a
horse barn. The kind of place where people board their horses, maybe 40
or 50 of 'em.

As a lifelong horseman (frequently bunking in quarters attached to/part
of the barn), I know all about the terror of barn fires. Throw the doors
open, prod the stock with anything that will spook them out and keep
them there, be it a rope, a shovel, or a pitchfork, and then hope like
hell you can close things up and/or guard the approaches well enough to
keep them from running back in to what they consider a place of safety.

Exactly.

And then cry for the ones you couldn't get/keep out.

Haven't had to deal with that, yet. Been to one where the person didn't
get out of the barn, though. 15 years later, I can still picture it.
not good.

Barn was a total loss, and housing was a bit tight in the
county for a bit, but there ya go.

I'd *MUCH* rather be scrounging for a chunk of fenced land to park 'em
on for a while than burying them...

Yup.