What a day, I had 3 plus cords of wood drying nicely behind the garage obviously drying better than i thought. It has been very dry here no good rain for over a month, today the wind was blowing in excess of 20 mph and my neighbor decides it would be a good day to burn leaves in the alley, he got them burning and went in the house, later another neighbor is beating on my door telling me my wood is on fire yep one whole cord is blazing away and the paint on the corner of the garage is blistering. The garden hose was useless but it did keep the garage cool until the fire dept. showed and got the fire out, almost a whole cord wasted. I do have a question the fire guys used foam and water, my question is can I still burn what I can salvage in the stove or will the foam cause me problems, I asked them what the foam is and they said it is just soap so it should be ok but they didn't know for sure does any one here know? Thanks in advance
My neighbor cost me a cord of wood today
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certified106
Minister of Fire
I wish I had an answer for you other than I'm sorry to hear about that happening. I would be furious at my neighbor and demand he pay for a good dry cord to be delivered to your house ASAP. It's way to much work for a cord of wood to watch someones idiocy destroy it!
CodyWayne718
Feeling the Heat
Yep. Odds are that his homeowner's insurance includes liability coverage. Get the wood in with the estimate of the garage repair. The value has nothing to do with that you cut it yourself, the value is the purchased replacement cost.
Wow, 20 mph wind and burning leaves.... Hell with the wood, it could have burned your house down... That's what I wood be mad about. >:-(
iceman
Minister of Fire
certified106 said:
X2 I would be pi*í! A cord of wood is like a 130-150 gallons of oil for me
2.80*150=420 bucks! So paying for a cord.at 220 well you can see is cheaper than oil...
Salvage what you can and go from.there and no soap won't hurt your wood .....Prolly make it bug free as they will suffer from the soap....lol
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
I'm sure if it was just soap it would be fine, but if they used some fire extinguishing chemicals it could likely be a problem. The black chared wood will be a mess to deal with for sure though.
I would simply assume that it's all contaminated and must be replaced. Once it is replaced, or compensated for monetarily, then worry about whether you can still burn it or not. Make sure you also get compensated for a clean up fee if you decide to clean it up yourself.
Hopefully your neighbor is well insured, but if he wasn't actually working in his yard there might be some question as to whether his homeowner insurance would cover something like that.
Kind of a dumb thing to burn leaves in the wind, let alone leave them unattended. Hopefully he showing some signs of remorse.
I would simply assume that it's all contaminated and must be replaced. Once it is replaced, or compensated for monetarily, then worry about whether you can still burn it or not. Make sure you also get compensated for a clean up fee if you decide to clean it up yourself.
Hopefully your neighbor is well insured, but if he wasn't actually working in his yard there might be some question as to whether his homeowner insurance would cover something like that.
Kind of a dumb thing to burn leaves in the wind, let alone leave them unattended. Hopefully he showing some signs of remorse.
My homeowner's insurance personal liability clause would cover it if I burned the stuff up at somebody's house across town. I just checked and in Illinois it is the same. It is personal liability coverage. You pick your coverage limits in the policy. Mine is $300,000.
JustWood
Minister of Fire
nonconformingLEE said:
Guys like you are why we have cops. Not insurance, methinxs. :lol: dasdardLee.
Class A foam was developed for wildland firefighting. It's a wetting agent, allows water to do its job better, which is important when you need to make every gallon count. It is being used more and more in structural firefighting, but I wouldn't waste it on a woodpile fire. Water is free.
At any rate, it is environmentally friendly. Your wood will be ok to burn. Charring might make it a lttile messy to handle.
At any rate, it is environmentally friendly. Your wood will be ok to burn. Charring might make it a lttile messy to handle.
iceman
Minister of Fire
Carbon_Liberator said:
Hopefully, he has state farm.....like a good neighbor!
BrotherBart said:
Lmao!
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
JustWood
Minister of Fire
BrotherBart said:
ActualLEE methinx for a 1400 mile round trip + 1 kord guud wood = $1900 not bad deal 4 ins. co. MayB!
burntime
New Member
It was dumb but a mistake that did not take a life. As long as he replaces what burned I would leave it be. I would not be buddy buddy with him but really doubt it will happen again...
Doesn't seem to be a person who think well not only when he decided to burn in that condition, but worst thing that he was not watching it all the time!!
Nothing prevent him from doing it again. So I'd think about some kind of prevention. Either move the wood away from his side or add something sort of firewall before the wood pile.
My 2 cents.......Som
Nothing prevent him from doing it again. So I'd think about some kind of prevention. Either move the wood away from his side or add something sort of firewall before the wood pile.
My 2 cents.......Som
Cluttermagnet
Minister of Fire
iceman said:
Oh yeah? Propaganda.
I'd say it's more "...like your worst nightmare...buyer beware..."
Don't ask me how I know this.
I wouldn't trust them with change from a dollar.
Hey, sorry about your wood, hotrod. Pretty careless neighbor, for sure.
burntime
New Member
American family ins is no better. The way I look at it is you pay them to be your friend, when you need your friend they turn their back. 20 years of premiums and my wifes wedding ring go missing (cue new babysitter?) Insurance for 5k, they want to pay 2200? Yep, they are history as soon as the one year is up. Did you know if you put a claim in that no ins company will take you as a client for 1 year from claim. Another scam in the industry... Your stuck holding hands with the company you dislike...
If the fire started and came from the Alley.....which is most likely City property the neighbors Insurance company MAy have an issue You will be lucky to get anything from them in the way of a claim.....Good luck
My wife talked to his ins. company this morning, thay said they would get back to her after they talk to my neighbor. They said not to move the mess they want to look at it. I will let you know how things turn out. I dont know if I mentioned that the police were here too and ticketed him for burning when the wind was in excess of 15 mph and he admitted to the cop that he was burning so there is no argument about that, and I will say he did come to me and apoligize so I am willing to live and let live but I am moving my wood racks starting next weekend.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
I do hope you got some pictures as that would help on any determination. Having the police ticket him is also a feather in your cap.
I too would accept an apology as it is only a cord of wood. However, I'd be sure that garage was not damaged at all. Also, it might be nice to collect a couple hundred dollars for the cost of replacing that wood, but you alone will have to make the determination on how it is handled.
This reminds me of just a couple years ago when some idiot was burning leaves and we had 40 mph wind at the time. It got away from him and burned about 10 acres of a neighbor's woods. That neighbor had to call the fire department to stop it before his house burned down. Naturally, the guy who was burning leaves said it wasn't his fault.....
I too would accept an apology as it is only a cord of wood. However, I'd be sure that garage was not damaged at all. Also, it might be nice to collect a couple hundred dollars for the cost of replacing that wood, but you alone will have to make the determination on how it is handled.
This reminds me of just a couple years ago when some idiot was burning leaves and we had 40 mph wind at the time. It got away from him and burned about 10 acres of a neighbor's woods. That neighbor had to call the fire department to stop it before his house burned down. Naturally, the guy who was burning leaves said it wasn't his fault.....
mesuno
Member
Some people are just idiots - who'd leave a fire in those weather conditions, let alone decide to burn leaves with that wind! If the firebrigade soaked your other cords you might have a case for claiming all three, especially if you would be forced to buy in dry wood in the interim.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Random thoughts . . .
I think Jeff T answered your original question pretty well . . . most fire departments would be using AFFF or Class A foam . . . and in most cases I would say that once the wood dries out you should have no issues in burning the wood.
Insurance claim . . . I think this is a time when you want to let your insurance agent know about the problem . . . you may be able to get the cost of the "lost" wood reimbursed to you as well as the cost to fix the garage . . . and I would guess it would not come out of your own insurance company, but rather the neighbor's insurance company.
Hmmm . . . there is a reason why many fire departments require folks get burning permits . . . here in Maine we see similar problems every year . . . although it's usually in the Spring when folks are burning dead grass and branches . . . without fail on the windiest and dryest day of the week.
The burned wood . . . even the charred wood should be good . . . actually other than the mess in handling the wood, the wood may actually burn quite well once dried out . . . wood that I've burned that has been charred in the past (no stories . . . just wood that was charred, but unburned from attempting to burn large chunks of wood in the past) has burned quite well . . . quick ignition.
I think Jeff T answered your original question pretty well . . . most fire departments would be using AFFF or Class A foam . . . and in most cases I would say that once the wood dries out you should have no issues in burning the wood.
Insurance claim . . . I think this is a time when you want to let your insurance agent know about the problem . . . you may be able to get the cost of the "lost" wood reimbursed to you as well as the cost to fix the garage . . . and I would guess it would not come out of your own insurance company, but rather the neighbor's insurance company.
Hmmm . . . there is a reason why many fire departments require folks get burning permits . . . here in Maine we see similar problems every year . . . although it's usually in the Spring when folks are burning dead grass and branches . . . without fail on the windiest and dryest day of the week.
The burned wood . . . even the charred wood should be good . . . actually other than the mess in handling the wood, the wood may actually burn quite well once dried out . . . wood that I've burned that has been charred in the past (no stories . . . just wood that was charred, but unburned from attempting to burn large chunks of wood in the past) has burned quite well . . . quick ignition.
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