One Stain Rag Sends Wood Flooring Truck Up in Flames

Stephen King of SAP Hardwood Floors said in an Instagram post that a stain rag left in the bed of his truck set off a fire.
Stephen King of SAP Hardwood Floors said in an Instagram post that a stain rag left in the bed of his truck set off a fire.

Stephen King of SAP Hardwood Floors said in an Instagram post that a stain rag left in the bed of his truck set off a fire.Stephen King of SAP Hardwood Floors said in an Instagram post that a stain rag left in the bed of his truck set off a fire.A single stain rag spontaneously combusted in the bed of a wood flooring truck and quickly sprouted into 6–8-foot-high flames, destroying the truck and several tools before being put out by firefighters.

Fortunately, no one was in the truck at the time, and there were no injuries.

Stephen King of SAP Hardwood Floors LLC in Chapin, S.C., known to many in the industry for his beautiful cross-cut wood prints, recounted the incident in an Instagram post, noting that he noticed the flames in his truck around 6:45 p.m. June 25, shortly after he’d come home from a job.

“I heard a small pop,” he said. “I looked outside with not too much concern and that’s when the panic set in. The bed of my truck was on fire.”

King said he ran outside to spray water from the hose at the “monstrous flames,” and was able to call 911 as he did so. He also hit the flames with a fire extinguisher he keeps in his trailer, but the fire continued.

“Every time I thought I was making some progress, the flames would pop back up,” he said. “At this point I knew my truck was gone.

King continued to battle the flames to keep them from spreading to his nearby trailer, which housed all of his heavy equipment.

“I knew that if [the fire] got there, my business was done,” King said.

The fire department was able to arrive in time, however, and doused the fire with a hose from the firetruck, putting it out in three minutes, according to King.

King said the fire originated from a single stain rag in the truck.

“I stained a single board and took the rag to the truck,” he said. “I soaked it in water and wrung it out. My mistake was that [I] forgot to dispose of it when I got home.”

Temperatures at the time reached 106 degrees, with a heat index of 118 degrees, King noted.

“So I’m sure that didn’t help.”

Aside from his truck, King said he also lost several hand tools and coating equipment in the fire, and started a GoFundMe to raise money to purchase another truck to keep his business afloat.

King told WFB that he was grateful for the response he'd received from his post so far and hopes to continue sharing his experience so that others can learn from it.

“It’s easy to get complacent,” King said in his post. “I’m just sharing my story in hopes of keeping you guys from making the same mistake I did.”

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