They must be transplants. Paper bag? Them must be city folk. As the old adage goes, you just can't fix stupid.
I'm trying to picture shoveling ashes into a paper bag and it seems way more difficult than say, I dunno...an ash bucket? Even a plastic bucket would be a BIT less stupid than a paper bag. Oh well...
The part that gets me is that these events are covered in the news every year, but like black flies, they just keep happening. What is between their ears? I can't help but wonder why insurance companies don't have some sort of mandate that home owners pass some sort of home safety course (with review dates) in order to maintain their insurance coverage. I don't want gov. in this, as I despise nanny laws. My insurance company came and went through my house and did an inspection and evaluation. Anything they had a question about, they brought it up and asked. They were not shy about it at all. They looked at the heating system, venting, electrical systems etc. If this type of oversight keep my premiums down, I am all for it.
I have seen this same thing in the news a few times over the years but the 'weapon of choice' was always a cardboard box. Personally, I do not blame this on stupidity, I blame it on the fact that almost everyone has lost the general knowledge of how to burn wood. These days, most people's first introduction to wood burning for heat comes when they are adults. Years ago, we learned about a gazillion aspects of woodburning when we were short and so when adults, it was old- hat. The exact same thing could be said of, say, curing animal hides; 200 years ago, everybody knew how that was done. Now, it would be an unusual hobby and the first few (maybe few dozen) attempts would be pathetic I am sure. Again, a lost batch of knowledge. I personally know people who have used woodstoves for years with the draft wide open and never, ever adjusting it. The stove just burns as hot as it can, for as long as it can and that is it. Burning wood for heating purposes died out a couple of generations back but was re- introduced during the oil embargo of 1973, and the learning curve had to start all over again but from zero, and a LOT of houses burned, too many people have been killed, and far too much damage (houses partially burned, chimneys wiped out through chimney fires, etc.) has been done in these last 40 or so years. And the worst part is that those of us who do know how to deal with heating via wood usually do not get to pass that knowledge down; I have two adult sons who have absolutely no interest in burning wood for heat, so whatever knowledge I have (small though it may be) will again be lost while some 25 or 30 year old person buys a house, sometimes with a wood stove in it and has to start that oh- so painful lesson all over again. Sure WE all KNOW that a batch of ashes out of a stove is not 'dead' even if the stove is stone- cold, but it is not intuitive to the uninitiated. We know this because we have all seen the embers turn red after a stove was 'out' for days and sometimes a week or more. But to people new to burning wood, the burn cycle is done and the ashes are just the garbage left- overs; certainly nothing that has any life or "bite" left in it. I learned how to shave with a straight razor at 50 or so and man, did I spill some blood! Not from my face but from my hands, mostly my left thumb; for whatever reason, I got cut several times handling, NOT shaving, with the razors due to inexperience, stupidity, whatever. But I was learning from brand new, my father of course never shaved with a straight, so the learning curve was pretty painful. If I had grown up watching others shave that way I am sure it would have been easier. Brian
Speaking of learning curves, the wood burning lesson I absorbed as a child was, don't trust what's inside big logs! My mother heaved one into the fireplace, and in about 5 minutes, rivers of black ant pouring onto the hearth!
We all make mistakes..n you should try n learn from them! Anytime I'm doing something in unfamiliar territory I ask ask myself...what are the possibilities?? Also I beleive the government got so involved with trying to make everything right...people have the perception that everything they do will be alright!!...guess its just me?
It should be said that not all of these people are as dumb as dirt. Sometimes the little things can bite you in the but. What if the story said that the stove hadn't been used in days ? Do we have visions of someone wearing oven mitts carrying a smoking paper bag ?? Yesterday for example I woke up and got the stove going, as I was cold and tired I covered up on the couch.......thing is I FELL ASLEEP !!! I awoke to thinking North Korea dropped one in my house !!! Had to use a poker to close the vents.
Fact is, that people aren’t aware how long ashes can stay warm. We wood burning enthusiasts take that knowledge for granted, but the rest of the world probably has no idea.
We can “sum” up the reasoning with a smiley: If an insurance company outlined its figurative policies out to people, then we would understand a loophole or two. Insurances work in the event of an accident but payouts are often given if they find absolutely no negligence in the case and some stipulations are very scrutinized. If suppose this were the incident of poor wiring, insurance investigates and finds who made the mistake then that falls on the contractors and their liability insurances. At least for recent changes. This often becomes nullified after house switches hands since codes for housing tend to change slightly every once in awhile along with technology changes for safety. Guess who controls such changes? If you guessed your insurance then you are correct. It’s a money game always and the protection coverages are based on how insurances want to protect their azz(ets) by making sure that the codes are followed when something changes.less weight on them.
Yup... lots of ways to ruin our lives with fire, for sure. Can't count the number of times my honey and I cringe when we see how popular open candles are... near curtains, etc. Fire happens. Count on it. Tis the season... so...
Ive seen this one before. Not to mention that we have stoves that will dry out our tree (if we all have one) faster than our wood dries! Scary thought honestly especially when it takes less than a minute for a room to be engulfed.
That video is why I threw away all my old lights and went with LED. I spent several hundred dollars on lights this year for piece of mind.
I feel much safer with the wood stove than I do with my wife's candles. Especially the ones that are under the little pan of scented oily waxy #&@% !! Just waiting for the dog to knock one over......
Sadly, I think there will be many more stories like this one. I don't know these folks story, and I'm last one to judge, but I would bet that they lived in the suburbs and decided to move to the country without knowing how to live country. Having heat delivered and pushing a button obviously isn't the same as using firewood for heat. A little experience goes a long way.
I grew up in the suburbs with oil or gas heating. Never heated with wood before last year when I bought a house with two stoves. But I still knew that ashe's are bad from seeing news reports over the years. Last year I only burned occasionally, but still would shovel the ashes into a bag and put them on the patio pavers for another week before disposal. This year I bought a 10 gallon metal ash can that lives on the back patio. I think common sense is the problem in most instances.
One reason for putting ashes into a paper bag is for disposal collection. Municipalities having the mind set that if the ashes are in paper bags, they are not live any longer. There were too many fires in the back of garbage trucks due to people hurrying and cleaning out their stoves because it is garbage day. Made for many a quick ride to the city dumps for those truck drivers! Sorry these people ended up with losing their house. Would've been well worth the extra time it took to put on a pair of boots and jacket and carry those ashes outside to the steel can or fire pit.....
