Re: Random question thread
Have you ever had a serious house fire?[/QUOTE]
No.
I have however been involved in a few serious fires, but not in my house.
I used to test jet engines for a living and occasionally they would catch fire. A few were inside the engine and although difficult to put out, they were contained and no risk to life or limb.
I did have one though where the main fuel feed pipe broke and the fuel pump just went Wheeeeeee, nothing to pump against, and spewed several hundred litres of kerosene around that then caught fire.
We had to evacuate the building by crossing a flat roof as the fire passed underneath us, then climbing down an external metal escape ladder. What fun!
I called the fire brigade who first drove around the manufactory on the opposite side of the airfield where we were working, then drove around the airport adjacent to where we were located, before driving past the test site, ignoring the two huge plumes of thick black smoke we had produced.
The Police had been and gone, having decided they should investigate two huge plumes of black smoke but left when I informed them that nobody was hurt. I thanked them anyway for their due diligence and concern for public safety and they left when we old them the Fire Brigade were visibly on their way.
We eventually managed to flag down the fire engine and they finally turned round and came to investigate.
When I first told them I thought we had perhaps experienced a titanium fire, the chappy in charge of the appliance blanched a little and said, that's like magnesium isn't it, and when I said yes he called for a more senior ossifer.
When he arrived and suited up and ran the back of his hand over the test chamber door, I asked him what he was doing and he said, well sir if the fire is still burning the door will be hot.
I pointed out that it was a blast door over 250mm thick, and doubted whether it would be hot on this side at all.
Eventually the door was breached only to find that we had already put the fire out by hitting the fire extinguishers that flooded the test cell with C02, but we just hadn't known it.
When I returned to my normal place of work, I accepted the accolades, promotion, and increase in pay befitting someone who had not only destroyed several million pounds of company hardware, but also the only person in my company's history who has managed to torch somebody else's test facility.
I have just been reminded that I should ask a question.
Who invented the food processor?