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Fire....Prepare for it.

6

6.5 Fan

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Had a small repair to do to the loader frame of our main chore tractor, a crack in the main frame where a pin holds a lift arm on. Ground it out and had daughter hand me the mig, i'm sitting on the hood snuggled up to the windshield, felt my left foot getting warm. Told daughter to grab fire extinguisher, really bad spot, behind upright of loader frame no way to get in from the rear, my two legs in the front. That small fire spread at a rapid pace, hollered to open shop door as i got in the cab now filled with dense black smoke. Fortunately the engine fired up and i drove out into the yard. Saved the shop, the skid steer and big lathe, countless tools and 3 building that are connected. Poor chore tractor is a total write off.
Man i didn't know my old carcass could move that fast anymore, lungs still ache a little from the s**t i breathed in getting tractor out of the shop. In hindsight i could have cleaned up the area i was working in, cramped and awkward. 'tis not going to be fun feeding the girls with just one tractor. Main thing is we were safe.
 
Really glad you were able to save your shop, but sorry to hear about the tractor. I'm always leery of welding on vehicles for this reason. Way too many flammables around. It also seems to be a leading cause of shop fires as they spread quick.

Don't beat yourself up about the coulda shoulda woulda's, we're all guilty of work like that sometimes and hindsight is always clearer. Best you can do is take the lesson and move forward.
 
Last place I worked had a hot work permit system they were very anal about, for good reason. Things like removing dust, moving combustibles back 30 feet, having an extinguisher within arms reach, etc before the work even started. Then monitor the area for an hour after hot work is done. It probably saved the plant burning down many times. i keep at least one extinguisher beside every exit door of every building i own. Fire is both our friend and foe.

Sucks about the tractor, but glad you are safe. Could have easily been far worse.
 
Really glad you’re safe, and excellent instincts on getting it out of the shop!

boilerhouse, I’m doing occasional on site work on the Centre Block of Parliament in Ottawa, and they are _serious_ about their hot work permits. The building was gutted in 1916, excluding the library (my recollection is someone managed to get a bronze door shut, saving it), and it would be pretty embarrassing to repeat.
 
Sorry to hear about the tractor, but I'm glad you were able to save the rest of it. Crazy how quickly bad things happen

Easy to shoulda coulda woulda afterwards but impossible to prevent everything.
 
6.5 Fan said:
That small fire spread at a rapid pace, hollered to open shop door as i got in the cab now filled with dense black smoke. Fortunately the engine fired up and i drove out into the yard. Saved the shop, the skid steer and big lathe, countless tools and 3 building that are connected. Poor chore tractor is a total write off.
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Farmer 2 farms down the road lost his whole barn and everything in it when his son was welding a trailer hitch into a pickup truck. Shit happens.

Thanks for the reminder to check my extinguishers. And to always have another helper nearby.

Glad you are all safe.
 
So glad to hear you’re ok. And thanks for sharing your experience with us. It’s a good reminder to me to be extra cautious working in the shop - especially since mine is an attached garage!

My closest equivalent was setting my cotton shirt on fire with my side grinder. Couple quick pats and it was out.
 
It was an eye opener for sure, one little flame got under the hood and boom it was instant volumes of black smoke. Likely built up leaked oil plus lots of debris that chore tractors accumulate. Started scouring the interweb for a replacement, we can get by with the 4430 and skid steer but it can get awkward. I'm sure our fearless leaders in Ottawa would have not been happy if they had seen how many hydrocarbons and toxic fumes were released during this mishap.
 
6.5 Fan said:
If i can't have some humor in my day i don't want to be here. Some days my sense of humor rubs my daughter the wrong way. o_O
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Ditto,

Sometimes my sense of humour rubs ME the wrong way! Most of the time I enjoy laughing at myself and the stupid things I do though.

Just yesterday, @Dabbler had me laughing at loud when I forgot that time and energy have a squared relationship. For some reason it just struck me as a really funny thing to forget! I confess it borderline rubbed me the wrong way to laugh at myself over that.....
 
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