What an awesome witness and reminder about safety regarding electronics and fire. I appreciate you sharing your lessons learned. By putting yourself out there, you will surely save others from a similar experience or much worse. God Bless, 73, W0TJV
Glad everybody is safe. Great job for having an extinguisher handy and knowing how to use it. We have a mandatory safety training yearly at work, Hospital, with multiple stations. Fire is one of them. We use the PASS system. P-PULL the pin. A-AIM, at the base of the fire. S-SQUEEZE the handle. S-SWEEP across the base of the fire. Excellent reminder too, about off brand electronics.
About 10 years ago my sister was going to make some fish cakes and she filled the pot with too much oil. It's an electric stove that was on high power and some of the oil spilled out when she put in the fish cake and it started a fire. Even before the smoke detector sounded, I was downstairs and as soon as I entered the kitchen I saw my father preparing to throw a pot of water on the fire. I immediately pushed him away, not knowing I caused him to fall, but grabbed the lid to the pot to smother the fire. I removed the pot from the burner and turned off that burner. My sister started screaming at my for causing my father to fall. I shouted back "didn't you see he was going to pour water on an oil fire". I explained to them both if the water hit that boiling oil there would have been a fireball that would have filled the kitchen. I also explained the correct procedure for that type of fire would have been to put a lid on the pot, remove the pot from the burner, then turn off the burner. The burning oil had made it into the oven and burned some of the wiring. I had to replace the stove. 73 WJ3U
As an electrician/volunteer firefighter its easier to just shut of the power strip sometimes at the end of the night. Glade to here all are ok. Yes its not just eBay thou, electronics are built cheap (not like they use to be) you have to realize that different materials and components are available for the construction methods as well, a lot more is imported now then before. Those companies don't have the same safety regulations. Personally batteries now-a-days especially, internet lipo's they do not leave my vision while charging, until charged, then it all gets unplugged and none of my gear is powered thru the night just for this reason. Great to have a fire extinguisher when you need it. Be watch full of the products you buy from what sources, do some research, you will often see a individual create a fake company name to sell something out of there basement and list the same thing different ways. Point is understand what your buying...
Glad the situation was no worse than it was. Joe thank you for bringing up having fire extinguishers! Smoke detectors are pretty common though I don’t think nearly as many homes have fire extinguishers at hand and they can be very important to prevent an accident from becoming a total loss.
Glad everyone is okay I've worked on many UL certifications for products at my job. The logo needs to include the UL file E-number and the words Listed or Recognized. If these are missing, it's a sign the item hasn't been tested by UL. My wife bought cheap LED light bulbs once from Amazon that had an obviously fake UL logo sticker with no file number that I quickly threw away.
Joe, that sucks! Glad everyone is OK & you still have your house! I would say that is the main reason why I am NOT thrifty with spending money on my gear. I want QUALITY, not cheap. My former father-in-law had his house burn down due to a cheap power strip from a well-known cheap tool retailer. I won’t take that risk. Stay safe & 73!
Man, that looks like a work shack that was hit by a N Vietnamese rocket while I was only a few feet away. Glad there was no personal injury and thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad that everyone was safe and that there wasn’t more damage done to the house or equipment. Moral of the story: have working smoke detectors on every level of the house outside and inside of bedrooms, living areas and kitchen areas. Also one inside your ham shack. This is something not often thought about. Have working, current fire extinguishers within easy reach of the kitchen and ham shack as well as garage areas. Take the time to familiarize yourself and your family with said fire extinguishers. This can be a lifesaver. If one tire extinguisher isn’t enough to put out the fire, evacuate the building and call the Fire Dept (which should be done anyway by an outside member of the household). Use of fire extinguishers should be in the following format: PULL the safety pin for the trigger AIM at the base of the fire SQUEEZE the trigger SWEEP back and forth to extinguish all flame I know this might sound basic and you’ve heard it a thousand times but having it fresh in your mind could save you and your family in a moment of panic that a fire could cause. Also check smoke detectors and fire extinguishers pressure and condition on a regular basis. Something else to consider is that low current draw devices that short out won’t pull enough current to pop a breaker. This is a hazard that isn’t typically thought about either. This goes for any electrical equipment anywhere in the home.
That message always bears repeating. After Joe's incident I replaced a smoke detector in the basement that was long past its service life and mounted a larger fire extinguisher at the bottom of my basement steps.
Look for a "kitchen and garage" extinguisher. Same $20 but it uses a white non-corrosive powder. There are also plain "kitchen" models that use the same white powder but a different nozzle, that spreads the powder over a wider area at lower pressure so it won't spread oil fires.
This is the second ham shack fire I learned of this month. The other one started when a cap explode inside a plastic power strip. The latter said make sure your power strips are metal not plastic.
When I was a kid there was a guy a couple of blocks away that would have his kids practice with a fire extinguisher every summer. I think he made the news at the time as well.
5 seconds from a 2.5 is pretty good. When I do fire extinguisher training, I tell people to expect one second per pound. You'll get a little more, but it varies.
Your local fire department often will have extinguisher demonstrations. And they'll use outdated but perfectly good extinguishers, instead of wasting brand new ones.
Did his fire alarm ever activate? Well, this is a great subject for everyone, on an annual review! Ham shack safety, cleaning up clutter, and fire prevention.
Fires suck. Glad you and your family are good. I had one in my "shack" a couple weeks ago and used all of a 30# dry chemical extinguisher to get it out. What a MESS, but, it's still here. I'll be working for months to clean up and yes the chemical is very "corrosive" Amazing what it did to my exposed guns and any other metal in less than 10 days. A question for everyone. Where is the fire extinguisher in your house?? If you had to think about it, it's to late!! They said I was within less a minute of not recovering.. 73 kt4ii
I just bought a new fire extinguisher a few months ago. I always tell people prepare for fire first because that's the most likely disaster. Then prepare for other common disasters. Don't start by preparing for an invading army or financial collapse. Although people love to talk about that stuff. I found it helps get them to the net so you can remind them to test their smoke alarms and CO2 detectors. 🤣
I'm glad to hear everything turned out as good as it did, that was a catastrophe in the making :( I got in the habit of unplugging my PS and power strips whenever my radio's aren't in use.
Not to be paranoid, but I use a cast iron dutch oven as a charging station for lithium devices. Even the brand name ones. Cast iron can contain a lot of heat.
Super glad everyone is ok! That could have been catastrophic. I’ve always been cautious about the cheap chargers. We should have at least one good extinguisher with a pressure gauge on it in the house. Teach the kids and everyone in the house how to use it. Once a year turn them upside down and tap them with a rubber mallet to loosen the dry chemicals. The C02 extinguishers aren’t cheap but if you need it it’s worth a thousand times what you paid for it..
you must invest in a “god” switch. this is just a standard wall light switch. but turns off all power to your ham shack. this way when you are not in the shack nothing is drawing any juice. great way to if nothing else, cuts your power bill a bit.
Some of those can be really flaky around RF. My son has them in his house and my FT-891 tripped the breaker every time I tuned up. They were older models but my understand they still can be a problem. But that sure makes you think about installing one and working around any RF issues.
AFCI (arc fault) will trip when it senses an arc in a specific frequency range. I suspect the damage came from the power supply secondary which would probably not create the necessary frequency on the primary side to trip the breaker.
Wow, so lucky! It could have been alot worse, property and life. Also lucky you had a fire extinguisher close by. I think you need to buy a bunch of lottery tickets. Take care.
well if the parts are cheap, it doesnt matter whether its assembled in china or usa. being assembled in china wouldnt make it worse, just cheaper. while i agree with buying a good made product, im not going to look at all chinese products being cheap just because the chinese are forced to work for lower wages than americans. all the parts come from asia, they are just assembled in different countries.
You are correct in that is doesn't matter were the part is assembled, what matters is the quality control. There are fabulous products that come out of China but they also entail a high degree of quality control. And there are some of the absolute worst things you'd ever find: rejects, counterfeits, and no standards. Everything is globally sourced these days, so being a smart consumer is more important than ever before.
What an awesome witness and reminder about safety regarding electronics and fire. I appreciate you sharing your lessons learned. By putting yourself out there, you will surely save others from a similar experience or much worse.
God Bless, 73, W0TJV
Glad everybody is safe. Great job for having an extinguisher handy and knowing how to use it. We have a mandatory safety training yearly at work, Hospital, with multiple stations. Fire is one of them. We use the PASS system.
P-PULL the pin.
A-AIM, at the base of the fire.
S-SQUEEZE the handle.
S-SWEEP across the base of the fire.
Excellent reminder too, about off brand electronics.
About 10 years ago my sister was going to make some fish cakes and she filled the pot with too much oil. It's an electric stove that was on high power and some of the oil spilled out when she put in the fish cake and it started a fire. Even before the smoke detector sounded, I was downstairs and as soon as I entered the kitchen I saw my father preparing to throw a pot of water on the fire. I immediately pushed him away, not knowing I caused him to fall, but grabbed the lid to the pot to smother the fire. I removed the pot from the burner and turned off that burner. My sister started screaming at my for causing my father to fall. I shouted back "didn't you see he was going to pour water on an oil fire". I explained to them both if the water hit that boiling oil there would have been a fireball that would have filled the kitchen. I also explained the correct procedure for that type of fire would have been to put a lid on the pot, remove the pot from the burner, then turn off the burner. The burning oil had made it into the oven and burned some of the wiring. I had to replace the stove. 73 WJ3U
If you’ve ever seen what can happen from that making him fall was the least of his worries!
As an electrician/volunteer firefighter its easier to just shut of the power strip sometimes at the end of the night. Glade to here all are ok. Yes its not just eBay thou, electronics are built cheap (not like they use to be) you have to realize that different materials and components are available for the construction methods as well, a lot more is imported now then before. Those companies don't have the same safety regulations. Personally batteries now-a-days especially, internet lipo's they do not leave my vision while charging, until charged, then it all gets unplugged and none of my gear is powered thru the night just for this reason. Great to have a fire extinguisher when you need it. Be watch full of the products you buy from what sources, do some research, you will often see a individual create a fake company name to sell something out of there basement and list the same thing different ways. Point is understand what your buying...
I'm happy Joe and his family didn't get hurt. Quality matters.
Glad the situation was no worse than it was. Joe thank you for bringing up having fire extinguishers! Smoke detectors are pretty common though I don’t think nearly as many homes have fire extinguishers at hand and they can be very important to prevent an accident from becoming a total loss.
Most ham shacks are full of pretty scary wiring.
Thanks for sharing the story. Glad everyone was okay!
I love the borrowed intro. Wow Joe, nice catch with the fire extinguisher. I'm glad the damage was contained!
Glad everyone is okay I've worked on many UL certifications for products at my job. The logo needs to include the UL file E-number and the words Listed or Recognized. If these are missing, it's a sign the item hasn't been tested by UL. My wife bought cheap LED light bulbs once from Amazon that had an obviously fake UL logo sticker with no file number that I quickly threw away.
Joe, that sucks! Glad everyone is OK & you still have your house!
I would say that is the main reason why I am NOT thrifty with spending money on my gear. I want QUALITY, not cheap. My former father-in-law had his house burn down due to a cheap power strip from a well-known cheap tool retailer. I won’t take that risk.
Stay safe & 73!
Man, that looks like a work shack that was hit by a N Vietnamese rocket while I was only a few feet away. Glad there was no personal injury and thanks for sharing.
Everyone is safe, that is the most important. THANK YOU for sharing this!
It's not luck that there was an extinguisher there. It was there because YOU were prepared and put it there. Fire extinguishers save lives.
Pleased to hear the family is safe, think I'll check my shack...
I’m so glad that everyone was safe and that there wasn’t more damage done to the house or equipment.
Moral of the story: have working smoke detectors on every level of the house outside and inside of bedrooms, living areas and kitchen areas. Also one inside your ham shack. This is something not often thought about. Have working, current fire extinguishers within easy reach of the kitchen and ham shack as well as garage areas. Take the time to familiarize yourself and your family with said fire extinguishers. This can be a lifesaver. If one tire extinguisher isn’t enough to put out the fire, evacuate the building and call the Fire Dept (which should be done anyway by an outside member of the household). Use of fire extinguishers should be in the following format:
PULL the safety pin for the trigger
AIM at the base of the fire
SQUEEZE the trigger
SWEEP back and forth to extinguish all flame
I know this might sound basic and you’ve heard it a thousand times but having it fresh in your mind could save you and your family in a moment of panic that a fire could cause. Also check smoke detectors and fire extinguishers pressure and condition on a regular basis.
Something else to consider is that low current draw devices that short out won’t pull enough current to pop a breaker. This is a hazard that isn’t typically thought about either. This goes for any electrical equipment anywhere in the home.
That message always bears repeating. After Joe's incident I replaced a smoke detector in the basement that was long past its service life and mounted a larger fire extinguisher at the bottom of my basement steps.
Look for a "kitchen and garage" extinguisher. Same $20 but it uses a white non-corrosive powder. There are also plain "kitchen" models that use the same white powder but a different nozzle, that spreads the powder over a wider area at lower pressure so it won't spread oil fires.
This is the second ham shack fire I learned of this month. The other one started when a cap explode inside a plastic power strip. The latter said make sure your power strips are metal not plastic.
Hopefully videos like this will help may shack fires a more rare occurrence.
Glad to see Joe and family are ok.
CO-2 is only for CLASS A (Paper/wood) fires. A better one is to get a HALON GAS type Extinguisher. It works for CLASS A,B,&C type fires.
Are Halon extinguishers still available? I thought they were taken off the market years ago.
Oh man!! I absolutely love the oldschool intro🥰
When I was a kid there was a guy a couple of blocks away that would have his kids practice with a fire extinguisher every summer. I think he made the news at the time as well.
Glad all survived. I have halon extinguishers. No mess left by the extinguisher.
Don't forget to have someone to call 911 while u are fighting the fire.
Note to self - Add several fire extinguishers to my shack. Yikes! I am glad it all ended ok.
5 seconds from a 2.5 is pretty good. When I do fire extinguisher training, I tell people to expect one second per pound. You'll get a little more, but it varies.
Your local fire department often will have extinguisher demonstrations. And they'll use outdated but perfectly good extinguishers, instead of wasting brand new ones.
The department's fire inspector is a wealth of information. Many of them can be invited into your home and give you a fire safety assessment.
So glad it didn't get any worse. Great story to tell you grandkids.
Glad to hear Joe is ok.
Good video. Thanks this important information!
Did his fire alarm ever activate?
Well, this is a great subject for everyone, on an annual review! Ham shack safety, cleaning up clutter, and fire prevention.
The smoke detecter went off, but his wife smelled smoke before they heard it.
Fires suck. Glad you and your family are good. I had one in my "shack" a couple weeks ago and used all of a 30# dry chemical extinguisher to get it out. What a MESS, but, it's still here. I'll be working for months to clean up and yes the chemical is very "corrosive" Amazing what it did to my exposed guns and any other metal in less than 10 days. A question for everyone. Where is the fire extinguisher in your house?? If you had to think about it, it's to late!! They said I was within less a minute of not recovering.. 73 kt4ii
Fire extinguishers are not a matter of luck, they are a matter of planning for the worst, praying for the best.
Glad all are OK. Sorry this has happened.
I just bought a new fire extinguisher a few months ago. I always tell people prepare for fire first because that's the most likely disaster. Then prepare for other common disasters. Don't start by preparing for an invading army or financial collapse. Although people love to talk about that stuff. I found it helps get them to the net so you can remind them to test their smoke alarms and CO2 detectors. 🤣
It may be fun to prepare for the zombie apocalypse, but these common disasters in the home are what we should focus our attention on.
I'm glad to hear everything turned out as good as it did, that was a catastrophe in the making :(
I got in the habit of unplugging my PS and power strips whenever my radio's aren't in use.
Damn Joe! Glad it wasn't worse. Good pointers here. Thanks 73
Not to be paranoid, but I use a cast iron dutch oven as a charging station for lithium devices. Even the brand name ones. Cast iron can contain a lot of heat.
Is there some Infrared camera alarm system that will sound the alarm as it detects pixels getting hotter?
I'm not sure, there are heat detecters you can install along with a smoke detector
Super glad everyone is ok! That could have been catastrophic. I’ve always been cautious about the cheap chargers. We should have at least one good extinguisher with a pressure gauge on it in the house. Teach the kids and everyone in the house how to use it. Once a year turn them upside down and tap them with a rubber mallet to loosen the dry chemicals. The C02 extinguishers aren’t cheap but if you need it it’s worth a thousand times what you paid for it..
so glad everyone is ok. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
Good information! I’m glad everything turned out as well as it did!
73
W5RDC
I have a master switch to power and de-power the whole shack and I leave it cold unless I right there in it.
9's are the coolest, funniest hams
you must invest in a “god” switch.
this is just a standard wall light switch. but turns off all power to your ham shack.
this way when you are not in the shack nothing is drawing any juice.
great way to if nothing else, cuts your power bill a bit.
The smoke detector in my hamshack trips the detectors all over the house
In many communities hard wired detectors are code for new construction and rental units.
WOW!! So much for penny wise and pound foolish!! I Always use mfr or Batteries America for cams and radios! Jerry
Would an Ark Fault breaker have protected your equipment?
Some of those can be really flaky around RF. My son has them in his house and my FT-891 tripped the breaker every time I tuned up. They were older models but my understand they still can be a problem. But that sure makes you think about installing one and working around any RF issues.
AFCI (arc fault) will trip when it senses an arc in a specific frequency range. I suspect the damage came from the power supply secondary which would probably not create the necessary frequency on the primary side to trip the breaker.
Wow, so lucky! It could have been alot worse, property and life. Also lucky you had a fire extinguisher close by. I think you need to buy a bunch of lottery tickets. Take care.
Hopefully he had homeowners insurance at least renters insurance that way his radios were covered also
Buy Once, Cry Once 🔥
Nice................
Never use any electronics made in China
well if the parts are cheap, it doesnt matter whether its assembled in china or usa. being assembled in china wouldnt make it worse, just cheaper.
while i agree with buying a good made product, im not going to look at all chinese products being cheap just because the chinese are forced to work for lower wages than americans. all the parts come from asia, they are just assembled in different countries.
You are correct in that is doesn't matter were the part is assembled, what matters is the quality control. There are fabulous products that come out of China but they also entail a high degree of quality control. And there are some of the absolute worst things you'd ever find: rejects, counterfeits, and no standards. Everything is globally sourced these days, so being a smart consumer is more important than ever before.
Wooooah....Sucks
1st