Hello
What happens if a Wood Pellet Stove owner dumps HOT ashes back into the plastic wood pellet bag and then into a plastic trash bag inside the Barn??
Not sure what this guy is burning? Turning the stove off mid morning and still have hot ashes at 7pm at night?
Does this make sense??
(broken link removed to http://www.wickedlocal.com/georgetown/features/x512663720/Late-night-Georgetown-fire-destroys-North-Street-barn#axzz1JT0RFfWe)
By Anne Kasper / Wicked Local Georgetown
Posted Jan 18, 2011 @ 09:44 AM
Georgetown —
Around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, a car driving by the intersection of North Street and Pond Street in Georgetown pulled into the driveway of 52 North St. with its horn blaring. The unknown driver was trying to alert homeowners to a fire that had broken out in their barn. The honking got the attention of a neighbor who saw the flames and called 911.
Mark McFadden, who lives at the North Street home with his wife, Donna, and their children, also looked outside and noticed the fire when he heard the honking. According to Donna, who was out of town on a ski trip with their sons, Mark called up to their daughter who put on shoes and a coat, and they went outside with the family’s dog. Donna said everyone got out safely, and no people or animals were hurt.
“Even our bunny in the backyard is fine,†she said.
The blaze spread quickly and ended up destroying most of the barn, but the attached home was saved, with only minor smoke damage.
According to Georgetown Fire Chief Al Beardsley, the call for a confirmed house fire came in at 11:33 p.m. He said Deputy Chief Russ Moyer and Deputy Chief Rusty Ricker arrived about the same time, and Engine One was the first heavy equipment at the scene.
When the firefighters arrived, the fire had already spread to the second floor of the barn, and it was so heavily involved that Beardsley said he didn’t want to send any firefighters into the building for fear of a collapse.
The historic barn was more than 200 years old, and Beardsley said buildings that old tend to burn quickly.
“They’re dry tinderboxes,†he said.
Beardsley explained that 15 minutes after they started fighting the blaze, the left side of the building did collapse.
Containing the flames
The firefighters initially broke into two crews, Beardsley explained. One crew attacked the main body of the fire with large amounts of water from a high-capacity hose called a blitz line. The other crew went into the house, which is connected to the barn by a breezeway, with a smaller hose to prevent the fire from spreading into the house and to check for any possible extensions of fire.
“If we had hesitated for a moment, the fire would have gotten into that house,†Beardsley said. He added that a heavy wooden door in the breezeway was closed when the fire broke out, and that helped keep it from spreading into the house.
Beardsley also credited the unknown driver honking the car horn for helping to prevent damage to the house by drawing attention to the fire sooner than it might have been noticed otherwise.
He explained that the daughter had been in an upstairs bedroom that faced the barn, and there was already heat and smoke coming through the electrical sockets in that room when the fire department arrived. According to Beardsley, if the fire had gone undiscovered another 10 or 15 minutes, they would have had a very difficult time getting her out of that part of the house.
As more equipment and manpower arrived on the scene, another blitz line attacked the fire from behind the building, and a ladder truck poured water onto the fire from above. A ladder truck from Groveland was positioned at the intersection of Prospect Street and Pond Street to help protect neighboring homes, but fortunately, it did not need to be used, Beardsley explained.
Beardsley declared the fire under control after 45 minutes, and firefighters remained on the scene until about 3 a.m.
Buried hydrant
One problem that the fire department faced was that a fire hydrant near the home was covered in snow and had to be shoveled out by firefighters and neighbors. Beardsley said they were lucky in this instance because there were other fire hydrants nearby, including one across the street at Perley School, that they had immediate access to while that hydrant was cleared.
The fire chief explained that the fire department had been shoveling out hydrants all over town but they unfortunately hadn’t gotten to that neighborhood yet. He asked residents to pitch in by clearing snow away from a hydrant near their home, a small thing that could help save one of their neighbors or even their own house some day.
What sparked the fire
The state fire marshal came to help with the investigation, but Beardsley said the cause of the fire ended up being straightforward.
According to Beardsley, the fire originated in a trash bag on the left side of the barn. He explained that there is a pellet stove in the house, and Mark McFadden turned it off mid-morning on Saturday. Then around 7 p.m., he cleaned out the ashes, put them back in the bag they’d come in and placed it in a plastic trash bag in the barn. The ashes weren’t completely cool and ended up igniting the fire.
What happens if a Wood Pellet Stove owner dumps HOT ashes back into the plastic wood pellet bag and then into a plastic trash bag inside the Barn??
Not sure what this guy is burning? Turning the stove off mid morning and still have hot ashes at 7pm at night?
Does this make sense??
(broken link removed to http://www.wickedlocal.com/georgetown/features/x512663720/Late-night-Georgetown-fire-destroys-North-Street-barn#axzz1JT0RFfWe)
By Anne Kasper / Wicked Local Georgetown
Posted Jan 18, 2011 @ 09:44 AM
Georgetown —
Around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, a car driving by the intersection of North Street and Pond Street in Georgetown pulled into the driveway of 52 North St. with its horn blaring. The unknown driver was trying to alert homeowners to a fire that had broken out in their barn. The honking got the attention of a neighbor who saw the flames and called 911.
Mark McFadden, who lives at the North Street home with his wife, Donna, and their children, also looked outside and noticed the fire when he heard the honking. According to Donna, who was out of town on a ski trip with their sons, Mark called up to their daughter who put on shoes and a coat, and they went outside with the family’s dog. Donna said everyone got out safely, and no people or animals were hurt.
“Even our bunny in the backyard is fine,†she said.
The blaze spread quickly and ended up destroying most of the barn, but the attached home was saved, with only minor smoke damage.
According to Georgetown Fire Chief Al Beardsley, the call for a confirmed house fire came in at 11:33 p.m. He said Deputy Chief Russ Moyer and Deputy Chief Rusty Ricker arrived about the same time, and Engine One was the first heavy equipment at the scene.
When the firefighters arrived, the fire had already spread to the second floor of the barn, and it was so heavily involved that Beardsley said he didn’t want to send any firefighters into the building for fear of a collapse.
The historic barn was more than 200 years old, and Beardsley said buildings that old tend to burn quickly.
“They’re dry tinderboxes,†he said.
Beardsley explained that 15 minutes after they started fighting the blaze, the left side of the building did collapse.
Containing the flames
The firefighters initially broke into two crews, Beardsley explained. One crew attacked the main body of the fire with large amounts of water from a high-capacity hose called a blitz line. The other crew went into the house, which is connected to the barn by a breezeway, with a smaller hose to prevent the fire from spreading into the house and to check for any possible extensions of fire.
“If we had hesitated for a moment, the fire would have gotten into that house,†Beardsley said. He added that a heavy wooden door in the breezeway was closed when the fire broke out, and that helped keep it from spreading into the house.
Beardsley also credited the unknown driver honking the car horn for helping to prevent damage to the house by drawing attention to the fire sooner than it might have been noticed otherwise.
He explained that the daughter had been in an upstairs bedroom that faced the barn, and there was already heat and smoke coming through the electrical sockets in that room when the fire department arrived. According to Beardsley, if the fire had gone undiscovered another 10 or 15 minutes, they would have had a very difficult time getting her out of that part of the house.
As more equipment and manpower arrived on the scene, another blitz line attacked the fire from behind the building, and a ladder truck poured water onto the fire from above. A ladder truck from Groveland was positioned at the intersection of Prospect Street and Pond Street to help protect neighboring homes, but fortunately, it did not need to be used, Beardsley explained.
Beardsley declared the fire under control after 45 minutes, and firefighters remained on the scene until about 3 a.m.
Buried hydrant
One problem that the fire department faced was that a fire hydrant near the home was covered in snow and had to be shoveled out by firefighters and neighbors. Beardsley said they were lucky in this instance because there were other fire hydrants nearby, including one across the street at Perley School, that they had immediate access to while that hydrant was cleared.
The fire chief explained that the fire department had been shoveling out hydrants all over town but they unfortunately hadn’t gotten to that neighborhood yet. He asked residents to pitch in by clearing snow away from a hydrant near their home, a small thing that could help save one of their neighbors or even their own house some day.
What sparked the fire
The state fire marshal came to help with the investigation, but Beardsley said the cause of the fire ended up being straightforward.
According to Beardsley, the fire originated in a trash bag on the left side of the barn. He explained that there is a pellet stove in the house, and Mark McFadden turned it off mid-morning on Saturday. Then around 7 p.m., he cleaned out the ashes, put them back in the bag they’d come in and placed it in a plastic trash bag in the barn. The ashes weren’t completely cool and ended up igniting the fire.
![[Hearth.com] Late-night Georgetown MA fire destroys North Street barn caused by Wood Pellet Stove Ashes!](/talk/data/attachments/43/43591-8d9b2d383700c117f3478bd41d5b45f3.jpg?hash=lFsKSd0YiD)
![[Hearth.com] Late-night Georgetown MA fire destroys North Street barn caused by Wood Pellet Stove Ashes!](/talk/data/attachments/43/43592-d1016cef27625b76021eeb18c2a83552.jpg?hash=29YiwgvXPw)
![[Hearth.com] Late-night Georgetown MA fire destroys North Street barn caused by Wood Pellet Stove Ashes!](/talk/data/attachments/43/43593-f34aa588bd330a28785df19b97f820da.jpg?hash=bB2Hyjr2Vj)
> Pellet stoves don't cause fires. IDIOTS cause fires
