Fire in the shop

[Andrew Field]

I've been neglecting visiting this forum for the last couple weeks because I've been busy at work, busy with the pond CD stuff, and busy trying to finish new kitchen cabinets for my grandparents. Well, last night it all caught up with me, in the form of a fire.

I had a box with used finishing rags sitting in the middle of the cabinet. I had checked the rags periodicly to make sure there was no heat, but last night it took fire. The finish was Bartlets gel varnish.

This morning I've checked the smoke detecters through out the house to make sure they are fine and I'm going to go get a small steel trash bin with a lid for my rags.

The pictures don't look that bad, but the clean up is what is going to take time. I have a nice layer of smoke/soot all over everything in the shop and the DJ-20 has a nice thin rust coat on it. The house has a nice smoke smell as well. Any tips on cleaning up the mess would be helpfull. Also, the cabinets I am working on are still in the shop and now smell like smoke, any way to solve this?

[Steve Clardy]

if that's all it done. Smoke smell and a little cabinet damage. When I use rags and stain, the rag stays on the top edge of a metal barrel till it is hard and dry. Wheew, you could have really had a bigger disaster than you had. Yes, first thing go get you a metal container. Bet you won't forget this. I've done some real boners, and I usually remember them real well. Hope you can get the mess cleaned up. Steve

[Rob Russell]

I had a box with used finishing rags sitting in the middle of the cabinet. I had checked the rags periodicly to make sure there was no heat, but last night it took fire. The finish was Bartlets gel varnish.

This morning I've checked the smoke detecters through out the house to make sure they are fine and I'm going to go get a small steel trash bin with a lid for my rags.


Throwing the rags into a metal bin still isn't the right way to deal with the rags. Hang them by clothespins on 2 corners from a line so they dry or spread them outside flat on a concrete/stone walkway until dry. If you leave the rags in a sealed metal container, you can get a flash burn when you open the bin. Heat will build up and the oxygen from the air can ignite the mess when you open the bin.

[Sam Chambers]

Andrew:

Glad to see you're OK and the damage was minimal.

I was once told that the only way to get rid of the smoke smell was to seal eveything. The guy I was talking to had fire in his house, and all the furniture smelled like smoke. He eventually sealed everything, inside and out, with shellac and it effectively sealed the odor inside the wood. I can't say for certain that it'll work, but it makes some sense.

[Noah Alkinburgh]

wow, I have heard this could happen but never talked to anyone who had it happen to them, glad you and your family, and your house are all ok.

For taking smell out of stuff that is fabric, (carpets couch etc) put whole cloves down for 24 hours and vacuum them up...if the smell is still there put down some more for 24 hours and vacuum them up. Hope that helps.

Noah

[Jim Becker]

I'm glad that noone was hurt and that the shop is physically fine, other than a little odor. Cleaning is easier than dealing with worse outcomes...

I generally hang my finishing rags on a large landscape nail in a post outside and away from the shop. Once they are dry and hard, I dispose of them in the trash. I'm pretty anal about this and glad that I am, given the three or four reports I've seen lately in the forums about the same thing that happened to you.

[Andrew Field]

wow, I have heard this could happen but never talked to anyone who had it happen to them, glad you and your family, and your house are all ok.

For taking smell out of stuff that is fabric, (carpets couch etc) put whole cloves down for 24 hours and vacuum them up...if the smell is still there put down some more for 24 hours and vacuum them up. Hope that helps.

Noah
Clove of what?

[Doug Keener]

That was a close one Andy! I know the feeling having had a minor fire in my sons bedroom some years back. I served on a volunteer fire department many years ago and to get rid of the fire and smoke odor we used a spray called Ozium. The active ingredients are Triethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol. It can be purchased in aerosol cans. It's been many years ago since I purchased any so I'm not sure where it is sold. The can I have says it is made by a division of Blue Coral, Inc. under the name of Woodlets. One 16 oz can will treat a room 10ft. by 14ft.

Hope this helps. Take care, Doug Keener

[Noah Alkinburgh]

Clove of what?


Andrew,

It is a spice called whole cloves. Don't know what they are except cloves. Always thought they came from a clove plant. Used alot for cooking and in potporri. Just look in the spice section of grocery store, or if you have a store that sells just spices look there. Better yet if you are a member of a wholesale club (BJ's Costco Sam's) look there. They sell em in big containers.

Noah

[Dick Howard]

Sorry to hear about you fire. Glad no one was hurt and no more damage than that. When we had a small fire in a mobile we had that was used as storage and office space, disaster cleanup came and ran a large ozone generator for a couple of days. Took most of the smell out. Not sure what the cost was as insurance paid for it. Good luck

Dick in Emmett, Idaho

[Steve Jenkins]

Andrew, sorry to hear about the fire but glad it wasn't any worse. it sure could have been. I am with everyone else on disposal of rags lay them out till dry then toss away. When I am staining I use papertowels a lot and the floor is coverd with them because as I use them up I just toss them on the floor not wadded up.Another thing you can do is keep a bucket about half full of water and toss them in there but then it is a mess to get rid of. hope you get the smell out. seems that really sticks. Steve

[Dennis Peacock]

Andrew,

I saw a Sam's Store experience a fire from cleaning solution soaked rags piled in the back of the store. It took them a few weeks to get back in full operation.

I learned a long time ago, that with chemicals and rags, it is best to completely unfold and lay them out on the grass away from the building over night. I always like having rags be AWAY from the shop or house when they contain chemicals that could even remotely create heat and catch fire.

I am sorry to here about your fire and wish you the best in the clean up process....clean ups after a fire are a real PAIN to get done.

[David Rose]

I'll bet shellac seal will work. It will slowly dissipate from the buildings. I'm surely glad that you didn't get it worse, as bad as it seems.

I once experimentally made a small pile of oil finish soaked rags which contained oil to varying degrees. I stepped on it to really compress the mass. It caught fire in about an hour. I have the metal "fire retardant" can, but I really don't trust it very much. Like the others, I leave the rags spread out very well, then if I quit early and they are dry they go in the can. If I'm not rushed, I burn them.

David

[Ron Roberts]

Andrew,

I've been involved a time or two with some fire restoration work. I am by no means an expert so factor that in. My understanding is that soot is the source of the smell and until you get rid of it, you'll always smell it to some extent although it will fade with time.

We would get these special sponges made for this purpose and begin wiping everything down including the insides of the duct work. The sponges would grab the soot particles and that would take care of the smell. I can't remember what these sponges were called but they were very dense and reminded me of giant erasers. Once all sides were coated with soot we'd tear them to expose fresh surfaces.

There are also specially formulated additives to include with carpet cleaning solution that deal with the smell. I mention this because you said the house smelled of soot too. Two of the major brand names for these products we used to deal with are ProChem and Chemspec.

I forget where you live but there ought to be some professional janitorial supply houses that could advise you on this and how and where to get what you need.

This may sound like overkill but it doesn't take much of a fire to have soot landing on almost everything. A lot of times you can't really see it as the particles are so small but it is there and causing the smell.

Hope this helps.

[Ron Roberts]

This is how I was trained to deal with these rags. Once the solvents have evaporated they can safely be disposed of in the regular trash.

They were using Watco on the Main Library furniture about 15 years ago here on campus and putting the used rags in an approved metal container at the end of the day. There was a flash fire incident and from then on the advice from Risk Managment was to spread them out on concrete and allow them to thoroughly dry (which didn't take very long in the Az. heat!).

[Doug Littlejohn]

Wheww!! sure glad it did minimal damage. Good lesson for all of us.

Thanks for sharing.

[John Weber]

Andrew,

Sorry about the fire, at least it wasn't worse. On your jointer, you might try your ROS with fine grit paper. You can even use a little top coat, WD-40, or wax for a lube as you get the finish you are looking for.

Best of Luck - John