FIRE!!!!

[longbow]

This afternoon started out with some intense panic for about 10 minutes. I had a field fire that consumed 1.5 acres in about 20 minutes. At one point the flames wher about 8 to 10 feet high. Don't know if it started from a tossed cig or a spark from a passing car.

No one was hurt, and no buildings were lost. Only the tall grass burned.

This brings up a question for all of you. What is your shtf fire plan? I live out in the country and have no neighbors close by. The grass is short around my house and I only have a few trees near the home.

How are you going to handle a fire from a neighbors home that is less than 25 feet away? That fire has a good chance of burning you out. Homes 50 feet away are less likely to set your home on fire if they are burning.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

No neighbor's fire close so thats not a worry. Field and woods fires are difficult to fight but with enough help and the right conditions(no wind) a fire can be beaten down. I did it once by my self for the most part when I was 13. Darn near burned down our house.
My uncle and dad came along finally with the Fire department . They sprayed down the wood pile and the shed behind the house.
SHTF we would have lost all the wood,and the shed. I have no SHTF fire fighting plans.

 

[shftn6]

No neighbors close here either. We have actually had grass fires close by, but got them out before the fire dept got here. They can get out of hand in a hurry! Short grass all around the house, and "cementboard" siding which is poorly flammable, so not much worry there.

We are however pretty well prepped for a house fire from inside, as we heat with wood, and statistics show that a house fire is BY FAR the most likely STF scenario for anyone. We have smoke detectors on all levels, redundancy on those, and the alarm system automatically dials the fire dept. Fire extinguishers on all levels, and an escape plan complete with collapsable fire ladder in the closet. We have a rendezvous point at an outbuilding complete with sealed containers of old clothes we can put on for warmth if we have to bail in a hurry at night. All important documents are either in the fireproof gunsafe, and/or scanned and stored on a zipdrive in a couple of off site locations. I need to work on scanning all of the family photos for the same purpose. People say the family mementos are the things they miss the worst after a situation like this.

MANY thanks to "listening to Katrina" on ThePlaceWithNoName.com for the insight on this as well as the plan for dealing with any SHTF situation. The best reading on the subject I've ever seen!

 

[bigiron]

my fire plan is to gather the kiddies, wife and dog and head for the truck. then grab the BOB and somehow get the fire to move from my neighbors house to mine. i need it to leave the garage but if it consumed the house i'd be dancing a jig in the street. yeah, i want a new house. only problem is the fire department is 3 blocks away and most of the fireman live within 5-6 blocks from me. oh well, for real though, if fire inside or outside i follow the same routine.

 

[Indy317]

What is your shtf fire plan? How are you going to handle a fire from a neighbors home that is less than 25 feet away? That fire has a good chance of burning you out. Homes 50 feet away are less likely to set your home on fire if they are burning.

There is _nothing_ one could do if the neighboring fire is hot enough. The only option I have every thought of is to spray down the roof to keep hot embers from starting a fire. I have witnessed one intense home fire near downtown Indy. It not only caught the neighboring homes on fire, the garage of a neighboring home, about 20is yards away, had siding that was melting and starting to catch fire. That is how hot a house fire gets.

If we lose our fire service, and someone starts a fire in some of those old neighborhoods, or new three homes to an acre vinyl village homes, entire neighborhoods will go up in flames. Unless the people can get water on the fire, and lots of it, all is lost. Just recently there was a vinyl village house fire up in Hamilton County, three homes ended up catching fire, I think all were pretty much total losses. It all started with a garage fire in the middle home.

 

[longbow]

You can always knock down the homes on either side of yours-if they are empty. Then control burn the debris.

 

[evansvillethompsongunner]

Lived on two farms for the vast majority of my youth, and we had this problem only once, as we were burning brush in the field for the landlord - and my Dad didn't think about the fact that he hadn't tilled the path leading toward the barn so it was basically dry weeds. Tossed some diesel and napalm onto the brush pile, lit it, got it roaring.... and sure enough, between the wind and it being slightly uphill, that hundred feet or so of dry grass was going up QUICK. We ran to the barn and shovelled down to dirt while the landlord's son got on the tractor with tiller and drove it in between the fire and the barn, but man, that was a close one. Wasn't even our barn to burn down, even... aside from trenching/digging to dirt or doing controlled burns elsewhere to pre-empt it, there's not much you CAN do, really.

 

[irishfan]

i honestly think that fire is one of the biggest threats for preppers. If someone can't get you to give up your supplies or tax you then they could just burn you out. Also, mother nature can cause the most havoc with a fire like the one you experienced or flooding.

 

[Bisley Man]

We live in apts. that already burned down. Fire plan same as evacuate plan(chemical spill, etc.) grab prepacked suit case(original Bug Out Bag) get to the cars, BACKED in the parking space and drive through the farm field next door if needed.If seperated,meet at predesignated location.

 

[abomb86]

Living in broad ripple like I do I think if there was ever a fire i'm assuming heavy drinking would immediately follow...so I think i'm good.

 

[SavageEagle]

My plan is to TRY and get the hard drives from my desktop AFTER the kids and wife are out, followed by tossing the firearms and ammo out the nearest window. If I have time while I'm herding out the family, they're to grab as many clothes of whatever kind they can on their way out. Besides those things, most everything else is replaceable.

The bad part is I can hang my head out my front door and spit on my neighbors house we're all so close. The local FD sends at least 4-5 trucks when a fire call comes in for the area.

 

[longbow]

You need to drink a lot to fight a fire

 

[USMC_0311]

Don't know if it started from a tossed cig or a spark from a passing car.

Or maybe esrice was shooting tracers again.

 

[SavageEagle]

You need to drink a lot to fight a fire

Couple 12 packs of Green tea or Powerade should do the trick for me!