Hey, floor guys … hope you are all healthy, happy, and prosperous heading into the 4th quarter of 2017!
I want to post a quick video about job-site fires, but first let me preface that by making these statements:
I DO NOT believe in “Squatch”! I do believe in ancient aliens but only as The Discovery Channel defines them. Loch Ness Monster? Possible. Ghosts and spirits from beyond, um, not until I have possibly CNN or Fox News video evidence confirmed by the FBI, CIA, or TMZ. UFO’s? Yes, absolutely, well, the ones military fighter pilots see and file official reports on that our government hides from us for like 50 years. You get my whole vibe here, right? We are simpatico? Same page? Comprende vous mes amigos?! Okay, gotta bring it.
Like many of you in the hardwood flooring industry, I have been working for years in every capacity, including training and conducting seminars. I always address safety, and each time I include some simple instructions to AVOID FIRE! YES, F-I-R-E-S!
I post this with particular emphasis because when I speak with customers and clients and I tell them that in 2009 we had SEVEN vacuum fires from vacs with polyurethane dust left or exposed to the sun, they either roll their eyes or start to tell me how smart their kids are or say things like, “Hey! $h!thead! I need some poly and a roll of ½, get my A$$ out of here, I got work to do!” But just a couple weeks ago we read about another fire started by wood dust left in a vacuum.
RELATED: Spontaneous Combustion: a Threat That Can Be Prevented
So, when I tell people, ”Give me a rag and some linseed oil or tung oil and I will soak it, tie it in a knot, and set it in the parking lot in the sun and you can watch it combust,” they all look at me like I look at my kids when they say, “SQUATCH!” (Damn, term alone drives me crazy! For the record, if you watch "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet, Squatch are not, as the cast proposes, attracted to bacon, fireworks, campfires, rainbow trout, or even roller coasters! The entire show is BS!)
Please take a look at this video provided to me by one of my most experienced and professional hardwood flooring contractors, my customer Chad Merrill of Merrill Hardwood Floor Service in Massachusetts:
Chad told me that for years he worked safely under the premise that any stain rags or similar material would be soaked in water, contained in a steel can, and disposed of properly at the local transfer station. (I am old school and still call it “The Dump”!)
I present to you this evidence of what happens when you don’t take your floor-coating concoctions seriously and take the proper precautions. Chad Merrill told me he cleared the job site and had every intention, when he got home, to water his rags and other materials he used to do a buff/oil coating. He told me he got home and totally forgot, with calls, text, and other demands of the day, to throw the garden hose into the 5-gallon plastic pail. He had a system. He knew what could happen. And when two locals guys were spotted in his yard pointing at his truck he stepped out to find out what their “problem” was. They said, basically: “Dude! Your truck! Look!” And, that was when he saw the smoke and captured the events in the video above. Also, look at this video by Diane Sawyer on the ABC World News:
Hardwood flooring contractors cannot afford a fire in any capacity, and many just don’t understand how easily they can happen. Take proper precautions and never assume your contaminated rags and coating tools are safe from spontaneous combustion.
Stay safe, fellow floor peeps. Keep an eye open for a two-part blog I will post soon, going back to my profiles on my favorite and craziest customers. If you read my blog Crazy Customers: A Tale of Old Mr. Welcome, you just might find the next blog even crazier, sadly tragic, and laughably insane! Stay tuned and stay well!
