Darn near burned down the house yesterday
Yesterday morning I was messing around with our prewar era Lionel train set that had belonged to my Dad. The wheels weren’t getting good traction, and since I happened to have some steel wool readily at hand, I grabbed a piece to wipe down the track. Unfortunately, I chose to do this while the train was running, not thinking about the short circuit I’d be causing with the steel wool. To my amazement, the steel pad immediately went up in flames in a shower of sparks in my hand, caused by contact with the track. My first reaction was to try to blow it out, which only made it worse, which then caused me to drop the pad recklessly…it landed on some nearby poster board. It was still glowing orange with no flame, but the sparks were showing no signs of going out. Afraid of full blown flames resuming, I managed to pick it up again and dropped it to the vinyl covered floor. Then I managed to grab a rag and pick up one end of the pad and ran it to a sink.
All’s well now, but WOW!...what a surprise, and what a tragedy this could have quickly become. It happened so fast, and could have easily turned into an all out fire had something else caught fire. I was just having coffee and enjoying some childhood memories one minute, then panicking and wondering if my house was going to burn down the next. Fortunately, my wife and most of the kids were out of the house, and fortunately nothing else became of it, but it did scare me and reminded me what a fine line we walk sometimes. I should have known better, but didn’t give it a thought until after....steel wool is an excellent fire starter, and holds spark for a long time.
Be safe my friends!
All’s well now, but WOW!...what a surprise, and what a tragedy this could have quickly become. It happened so fast, and could have easily turned into an all out fire had something else caught fire. I was just having coffee and enjoying some childhood memories one minute, then panicking and wondering if my house was going to burn down the next. Fortunately, my wife and most of the kids were out of the house, and fortunately nothing else became of it, but it did scare me and reminded me what a fine line we walk sometimes. I should have known better, but didn’t give it a thought until after....steel wool is an excellent fire starter, and holds spark for a long time.
Be safe my friends!
The pan containing the oil caught on fire and she tossed water on it to extinguish the flames. 
Naturally, the water vaporized immediately and sent flaming oil and thick smoke everywhere. She suffered third degree burns on one hand and her husband awoke and extinguished the fire and took her to the hospital.
You're right about walking a fine line through life - you never know.
twistsol
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