Careful With Those Ashes Folks

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BrotherBart

BrotherBart

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Staff member
Nov 18, 2005
33,399
Northern Virginia
www.243rdfreighttrain.org
Happens every year:

"The fire happened at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and started when a plastic bucket of wood stove ashes was placed on the wooden deck of the 4,000-square-foot house, at 24402 Maxfield Creek Road.

“The wood stove had not been used for two days. Probably a good lesson for all of us,” said Alan Shifley, assistant chief of the Hoskins-Kings Valley Rural Fire Protection District.

He urged people to put stove ashes in a metal bucket and keep them away from any wooden or flammable materials. Dousing the ashes with water also could help."

http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2006/10/17/news/community/5aaa03homefire.txt
 
That's a pretty rural area, would have guessed that it was in a housing development. Sad that mistakes like this happen over and over. It all does boil down to common sense, though.
 
That story is like a how to burn your house down in 1 easy lesson.

My original response to this post was going to be more of a comical reply with an even more absurd scenerio, but I thought someone might take me seriously, so I ditched it.

Just yesterday evening when about 5pm I pulled about 2 quarts of ashes out of the stove and put them in my usual metal pot. Put the pot out on the front walk (The only stone surface I feel comfortable putting hot ashes on) There were still a couple hot coals in there this morning. I've seen them last 3 days in that pot!!
 
..... and dont dump gasoline and then throw a match at it either.
 
This time last year my father put his medal ash can out on his patio, in a safe corner. A couple of days later we got a windy day and a whole bunch of leaves blew into that same corner. The leaves piled around the can and lit up. A good intentioned neighbor reported his house on fire. I'm on the volunteer fire department in my town so that was a fun ride to his house, he wasn't home so I couldn't get a hold of him. Luckily, his patio is all stone and the leaves were contained in one corner, so nothing happened to his house and the fire didn't spread. I took some ribbing for that, as did he. But lesson learned, be careful where you put that can.

Rick
 
I don't care what time it is or what the weather's like---I immediately take the closed metal bucket out to the far back yard and dump it in the firepit---if it's wet out fine---if it's dry and they want to stay alive I figure it's a good time to have a little bonfire and burn the junk mail.
 
Am I missing something, or am I doing something wrong, after I put ashes in the bucket , I run some water in there. After a while I dump in my garden which is quite a ways from the house, why not water em down?
 
I just don't like the muddy mess in the bucket---but if I knew it wasn't going to be dumped right away, I'd certainly run water into the bucket, but probably before I put the ashes in, to cut down on the splash and dust flying.
 
hardwood715 said:
Am I missing something, or am I doing something wrong, after I put ashes in the bucket , I run some water in there. After a while I dump in my garden which is quite a ways from the house, why not water em down?
Click to expand...

Pretty much depends (pun intended) on how much coffee I have been drinking.
 
Ever feel like you're just "the middle man"?
 
I compost my wood ashes, or spread them on the garden to raise the pH. I have 2 5-gallon metal pails with lids that I alternate outside cooling down. Other than being dusty, and getting tracked into the house, you can spread them on the ice/snow , both for traction, and to make the sunlight melt the ice faster. I won't put them on the driveway anymore, got sick of the mess after burning coal for so long and tracking cinders and dirt into the house. Plus I love to give my garden good stuff to grow with- more veggies for me!
 
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