My GF texts me around lunch today saying the firepit is smoldering. Last fire in it was Sunday evening. I started it for getting the charcoal going and kept it burning til after dark, then let go out. Monday night she made beer battered chicken. I soaked the vegetable oil up with news paper and paper towels and put it in the firepit to start the next fire, about 7-8 EST Monday night. Ill use grease soaked papers etc for firepit starters rather than throw them in the garbage. She discovered the smoke at noon today. The oil didnt ignite but smoldered enough to burn the paper towels in the ashes. She had to put water on it to extinguish. It was roughly 40 hours between me putting it in there and when she saw it smoldering. Didnt think it could take that long nor did i think there was any embers left after nearly a day. Ive seen fires start to smoke within a few minutes of putting a combustible on, but never like this! The pit is safe in the yard so if it caught, no harm done. Pic from this evening. Couple paper towels on the unburnt cookies/nuggets i put around the edge if they are too damp or green while the fire is burning. Still cant believe it.
That's basically how people burn down the house...put "cold" ashes in a paper bag and set them out on a wooden deck. It's amazing how long coals will stay hot buried in ashes!
Root fires can smolder for weeks. Traveling some distance in the process sometimes as well. That's why some people go the extra mile to make a decent fire pit.
My father would empty the ashes daily from the basement fireplace (many years ago). He had this small galvanized "tub" he scooped them into and would later dump them into an area where there was leaves, garden waste etc, in the back yard. I look out later to see smoke. One time it caught even though he dumped it on snow.
I have a scar in my wood siding. Old girlfriend decided to scoop the ashes out of the fireplace a day later. Put em on the deck. Paper bag.
Same kinda thing has happened to me buZZsaw BRAD. I usually fill my fire pit with sticks I pick up from the yard prior to mowing. When it gets full (or sometimes just because) I light it up, burn any extra accumulated brush and maybe a few (or more) pieces of wood deemed not acceptable for the wood stove. At least twice, a day or two later, I started adding more sticks from the yard and doesn't it start smoking. I push it around a little. Poof! Another fire! So I obviously add more wood and grab a beer. Neighbors come over. "Havin' another fire tonight?" "Yeah... Want a beer?" "Sure!" Another fun night by the fire.
Eewww, thats bad Brad. I would have to say she had several personalities. Mostly angelic but a few others I didn’t care for much.
