Do you have fire extuinguishers on your equiptment?

Joe Hillmann · January 30, 2015, 01:00:00 PM

Just a safety reminder. I don't have fire extinguishers on any of my outdoor equipment, that will be changing this weekend. I went out to load a log on my mill this morning with my tractor. As soon as I started cranking it over the entire left side of the tractor was covered in flames that were over my head. It took me 3 or 4 seconds to get off the tractor. By that time the fire burned down to just a small fire on and around the carburetor which I was able to put out by beating it with my gloves.

It looks like a steel fuel line loosened up or maybe cracked inside the fitting (I don't know yet) and started to leak a little and a spark from a bad plug wire, the exhaust or the starter set it off. The conditions had to be just right for it to explode like it did. Had it been much worse I wouldn't have been able to put it out and I probably would have lost the tractor.

I am just posting this to remind people that it may be a good idea to have a fire extinguisher near by or mounted on any equipment you use. A $20 extinguisher could save you many thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

blade69001 · January 30, 2015, 01:01:52 PM

Not on the equipment. I do however have one on the wall right next to my resaw.
Sean P

Nomad · January 30, 2015, 01:06:47 PM

Not on the mill, but there's one in the cab of my truck and it's never more than 20' from the mill.

terrifictimbersllc · January 30, 2015, 01:51:38 PM

I keep one in my truck which is close by. Never had any scare. Advantage of diesel I think.

beenthere · January 30, 2015, 02:05:50 PM

Joe
That the Allis that did that?

Joe Hillmann · January 30, 2015, 02:25:36 PM

Quote from: beenthere on January 30, 2015, 02:05:50 PM
Joe
That the Allis that did that?

Yep. Just this weekend I finally got it to be useable for loading logs on the mill. I made a 3 point for it and a set of short forks to go with it and now it wants to burn itself down.

Alligator · January 30, 2015, 02:57:46 PM

It pays to be prepared for fire. I was at a customer setting up a new PC, and the owner went tearing out of his office on a dead run, I said going to a fire. All he said was "yea" He text me these later. It's a fertilizer ag business obviously, not a sawmill, but fire in machinery is fire. They said it exploded twice, but I suspect it was the tires. If ammonia-nitrate explodes there is a lot fewer pieces to look at.

4x4American · January 30, 2015, 03:01:51 PM

At one job I worked at, I was carbon arcing on a Hood 20000 loader and well if you've been around them things you know they're just a glob of grease. Anyways, I set the thing right on fire way down in. The flames come up through and started tickling the oil pan. I was jumpin around tryna smack it out. Couldn't get to it. So I went and got a fire extinguisher and put it out. Bossman wasn't happy about that! He said a shovel full of dirt will put out a grease fire quicker than anything....I said well sorry I didn't think about that I don't have a shovel anyways. (it was in a shop with a concrete floor). I ain't workin there no more.

But yes I do keep an extinguisher on board my truck at all times which always is near my mill.

WV Sawmiller · January 30, 2015, 03:10:48 PM

Joe,

Yes. I bought one as part of my start up safety equipment while waiting for my mill to be delivered. It is just a kitchen size ABC type extinguisher but should put out most small engine fires if you catch them fast enough.

When I was a kid fishing with my dad he refueled a 3 hp Johnson motor with tank on the top. The tank had a little air vent you opened too. Dad pulled the cord and a spark set the gas on fire he'd spilled on the motor. he tried to beat it out but no luck. Flames shot out that air vent for 30 minutes before he finally soaked a shirt in the river and smothered it.

Now I need to remember to wear steel toed boots. My son dropped a spud bar we were using to move small logs around the mill on my foot yesterday and I now have 3 black toes. Nearly broke them but looks like just bruised.

Chuck White · January 30, 2015, 06:12:23 PM

I've alway carried a couple of the little ones (about the size of a 20oz beer can) in the tray of the truck tool box, but my daughter bought me a bigger one for my birthday a week or so back.

This one is about 5" in diameter and about 12-14" tall, it will be mounted in the corner of the truck tool box!

I always have the truck on site, usually within 10-15' from the end of the mill, and if the extinguisher was mounted on the mill, there would be times where if a fire started, you couldn't get to it due to the position of the sawhead!

Peter Drouin · January 30, 2015, 07:11:20 PM

One on the truck, one on the chipper and two next to the mill.

Larry · January 30, 2015, 08:20:47 PM

One of the first modifications on my mill.

Always there in plain sight and easy reach. I can't depend on my truck always being right at the mill. I can't depend on a helper to know a fire extinguisher is in my truck....someplace.... while I'm off with the property owner looking at a very valuable walnut. :D