Pope Flick Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 This might be a little lengthy..... Me and a buddy caught up over an astroburger last night in Los Angeles. I'm driving him back to his place and we have to go around his block because parking is so poor. We find a spot on the opposite block, walk to a convenience store to grab a few drinks. We were going to head back to his place to chill for a bit before I head home. We walk around the corner from the store and here is what we see: looking down the barrel of the sidewalk about 30 yards in front of us there are 4 or 5 people standing there, looking into his apt's carport. I THEN notice a column of smoke that's coming OUT of the carport and heading straight up. So, me and David see 4-5 people just outside this carport where something is OBVIOUSLY on fire. We didn't sprint up but went up to them to see what was going down. We figured we'd watch whoever was putting out the fire, as they were doing. Except...they were just watching the fire. Somehow a recycle bin (about 4 ft high, 2x2 at the bottom, 2 1/2"x2 1/2" at the top) that was filled and packed with shredded paper had been lit up. Half of the entire lid had been melted away, and the other half was goin up fast. I briefly heard one of the ladies say she saw kids htere just a few minutes ago (we had driven by this spot not 5-7 minutes earlier when I was looking for parking). When I realize these people aren't doing sheeet and me and David are looking at flames that are 6-9 inches high and not slowing down I'm like "let's find this building's fire extinguisher" so me and David book it one of two nearrby stariways, grab a cold retardant extinguisher, check that it's charged and head back downstairs. By this time, one of the older "gentlemen" who had been transfixed had taken a traffic cone he found, inverted it and tried to fill it from a faucet with no hose while cupping his hand on the bottom in his attempt to fill it up . I'd say he got about 10 ounces of water by the time me and David arrived with the extinguisher. The first extinguisher kills the flames. Me and David were in the carport doing this, and when we turned around ALL the people who were watching were gone, as in The thing was still smoking and hot but half of it was cold enough from the extinguisher to push it waway from the back wall and get it out from under the carport onto the sidewalk where I hit it with the building's other extinguisher (a water one). A lady in the building called the fire dept because it wouldn't stop smoldering after both extinguishers hit it, so they came from two blocks away and filled it to the top with foam and pried open the lid which had melted sealed and made sure it was gone. A few lessons I learned last night: your average Californian on the street is incapable of processing a direct threat developing. This fire was 5 minutes away from being a MAJOR issue, if that. MORE important: fire extinguishers run out VERY quickly. Ever heard the rule if your house is on fire use the extinguisher to create a path OUT and don't fight the fire with that thing and risk getting trapped? Read it, Learn It, Live It. Both the cold retardant AND the water one ran out within 60 seconds and couldn't 100% extinguish the embers combined. Here's a pic of the two extinguishers, the retardant one is on the left, and the water one (a knee high size) is on the right. Standard, but only margianally effective. Me, David and Mike his roommate laughed for about an hour after everything was said and done about the morons who fell in love watching the fire AND that the lady told David's manager that he "saved the building" for which he's trying to angle free rent for a month - which any landlord should be happy to give but probably won't. Story/rant over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 we have degenerated as a society from help thy neighbor to stay away from all other humans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Wow, good for you. Reminds me of a story about some friends of mine. They were coming back from New Orleans and they came across a car that was engulfed in flames up to the front windsheild. People were standing around looking at it and talking about the poor guy still in the car. My friends ended up breaking a back window of the car which allowed them to unlock it and one pulled the unconscious guy out. The car never exploded but the guy would have died had it not been for my friends. I think quick thinking during a crisis like this illustrates your true persona and you did something very admirable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliaz Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I caught my house on fire inside of the ceiling between the 1st and 2nd floor when i was drilling through the beans to run wire for lighting. I had to use all 4 of ours to put it out. They do run our very fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I caught my house on fire inside of the ceiling between the 1st and 2nd floor when i was drilling through the beans to run wire for lighting. I had to use all 4 of ours to put it out. They do run our very fast. Why am I not surprised by this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Most people are like Grits, they don't care about anything unless it directly affects them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Most people are like Grits, they don't care about anything unless it directly affects them. So you're saying that grits is the embodiment of the American psyche? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 So you're saying that grits is the embodiment of the American psyche? I don't think an attention whore would necessarily just stand there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I don't think an attention whore would necessarily just stand there. He would jump up and down saying "I'm ignoring this fire.....HEY everybody I'm ignoring this fire" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I caught my house on fire inside of the ceiling between the 1st and 2nd floor when i was drilling through the beans to run wire for lighting. I had to use all 4 of ours to put it out. They do run our very fast. Especially if they are already empty. When I was a kid I accidently put some 'used' fireworks into the trash can in my parents garage, thinking nothing of it as they were just lit off a few minutes earlier -- so what's the risk? Turns out the fireworks were still hot and set the entire garbage can up in flames, inside of the garage next to the cars. So my dad runs to grab both of the fire extinguishers only to find they were both empty. Months earlier my brothers and I decided it would be funny to spray each other with them and shoot other random things. It was hilarious at the time, but paid for it in the end. Long story short, I never played with fire extinguishers again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 You, sir, are a great American. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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