The Lure Of The Torch
Posted on | December 23, 2008 | 5 Comments
Well, this is certainly unfortunate. From Yahoo News.
Fire officials in New Bedford, Mass., say a man using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch ended up setting his house on fire, causing up to $30,000 in damage.
Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no one was injured during Monday’s incident at the three-story home.
Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building’s wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building’s second- and third-floor apartments.
Now a lot of folks are going to look at this and say; “Guy got what he deserved, you don’t melt ice off of your porch with a blowtorch. What the hell did he think was going to happen?”
However, I have empathy for this guy for, I too have started an embarrassing fire while screwing around with a blowtorch.
A strange thing happens when you get comfortable wielding a blowtorch; you start thinking about using the torch for jobs that it was never intended, like melting ice or stripping multiple coats of lacquer over spray off of a painting table. The blowtorch is just so powerful and so much faster than conventional methods.
Now, I’m not talking about the piddly little devices they use on the Food Channel to caramelize the top of a creme brulee. I’m talking about something more along these lines…
photo found at Zangobob’s Blow Torch Heaven
It’s the lure of the torch. The torch will perform yeoman’s work for you but, at some point it calls to you; “Come over here friend, light me up, do something butt stupid”. So, don’t be too hard on $30,000 damage to his own house blowtorch guy. He’s probably learned his lesson.
And, in that spirit, let’s rock to the excellent “Hell On Wheels” by the delightful Betty Blowtorch.
As always, make sure you have the proper oxygen to acetylene mixture before sparking up then, click pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.
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December 23rd, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
so vinyl siding is flammable,… hmmm… I didn’t know that. I guess he found out the hard way, but I’m willing to bet that some hotshot Boston lawyer already has his number.
Perhaps he could get a gig doing commercials for Morton Salt.
Trouble doesn’t rain, it pours….
December 24th, 2008 @ 3:27 am
My brother-in-law, a native Bransonian, shocked the hell out of me one morning at around 5am when we were staying in his old log cabin (the log cabin wasn’t old – more like a lodge, but they’re not there anymore!)
Anywho, one morning I awoke to an incredible repeated cracking noise, followed by some, clearly human, scurrying, then some more rat-a-tat-tat.
Turned out he was shooting his semi-automatic rifle at squirrels who liked to gnaw on the corners of the logs!
Just a little housework before breakfast…
December 24th, 2008 @ 4:08 am
very sexy
December 24th, 2008 @ 5:07 am
NEXT WEEK: Second in a four part series — LURE OF THE DRILL Clik HERE for a sneak peek preview
• And, of course, the home version of the game.
Don’t Miss it…. 8 PM Saturday — there will be plenty of seats — plus Tractor pull and Demolition Derby will start at 6:00 PM.
December 24th, 2008 @ 5:10 am
hmmm… I never thought of a semi-automatic rifle to shoot those varmints… now there’s a thought… better spread… lay down a little suppression fire and all.