Home Fire Recovery

[Safebare]

JaBee, Did you meet my neighbor, with the pool? The elderly man who lost his leg back in 2020 (while we were galivanting in Zipolite) and lives in the motorhome at the back of my property. He's from New Hampshire and some of that 'Live Free or Die' attitude certainly has rubbed off on me. He is one reason I have taken a proactive approach with my nude lifestyle among the neighborhood. He certainly isn't a naturist, free range of otherwise, but what you are wearing or not wearing is immaterial to him.

Anyway, the county found out that he was skirting tax laws by living in a vehicle (motorhome) without paying property taxes on the dwelling. He could have paid the taxes (registration) on the motorhome, but he was unable to keep it mobile enough, while he was dealing with his leg amputation and other health issues, to get it inspected as required by the registration laws. So the tax man finally caught up with him, issuing citations and threatening big fines.

We aired up the tires, fired up the beast and attempted to drive it out of the hole it had rested in over the last decade or so. I rocked it to and fro, hooked up the tractor for added umph, to no avail. It would not crawl out of it's resting place. I turned off the key and climbed out of the driver's seat into a cloud of smoke coming up from under the beast. First I thought it had simply overheated and climbed back in to look at the gauges. That's when I saw the first flames. They were coming up from the passenger's area at the side of the engine cowl. After dousing the flames with a blanket did not work, I exited the cabin.

Oil had already spilled onto the ground under the engine and was in flames. I grabbed the hose to try to disburse the burning oil, but things were getting out of hand quickly. Another neighbor hollered that I should get away from the from of the burning vehicle as things were popping and breaking with much commotion. I hollered for someone to call 911. It was then that I realized that I was completely nude.

I agreed that my position proximate to the engine compartment was not the safest, so I retreated to an area adjacent and at some distance from the motorhome, grabbing my sarong along the way. I was able to keep the hose pointed inside the living area of the home, not the put out the fire, but to keep the heat down as much as I could to save what could be saved.

The fire department came and what was not part of the fire was destroyed in the effort to extinguish it.

I have set up a crowd funding benefit for him: http://spot.fund/czkgrwsp

Stay Safe, Stay Bare!

[jbeegoode]

One thing about fighting fires nude, the sensitivity of the heat is a constant reminder to stay away from the flames.
Any danger of it exploding?
Prayers, to give the guy a break.
Jbee

[Greenbare Woods]

One thing about fighting fires nude, the sensitivity of the heat is a constant reminder to stay away from the flames.
Jbee

It was a sad story about the guy who lost his leg and then lost his home.

Two years ago we survived a wildfire at our home.  Throughout the night of the fire I refused the evacuation orders and protected my home by keeping my generator running to operate the well pump, maintaining water sprinklers, and fighting close by fire with garden hoses.  All of it was done naked.    I was also barefoot.  Before attacking fires in nearby trees, I wet down the ground well to avoid stepping on burning material.  .Naked fire fighting does give one a better feel for what's hot and what's not.   

About 3 AM some guy in a fire department pickup drove in and we had a brief chat.  He opined that my home would probably survive if I kept doing what I had been doing.  He said I might see the fire fighting crew in another hour.  He didn't say anything about me being naked.   I never saw the fire dept. team until two days later when they wandered past looking for "hot spots." 

[Safebare]

Vehicle explosions are rare and usually involve the gasoline tank.  The tank on this beast was in the rear, so there was no threat from it. Minor explosions from various hardware, including the batteries and vacuum tank, happen(ed) but were not a threat either. I kept low when hosing down the engine compartment to stay out of the line of fire and heat.

As Bob stated, fighting fire while nude gives you a "better sense of what's hot and what's not." Bunker gear let's you get closer to the source, but insulates you from more than the heat.  The neighbors still seem to be gossiping about my naked fire fighting.

Carroll had been talking for some time about needing to get out of the motorhome, into more substantial housing. This event moved that discussion forward considerably. He is still shell-shocked, but will recover.

Thanks for the interest!
~Safebare

[jbeegoode]

"The neighbors still seem to be gossiping about my naked fire fighting."

I have often burnt my piles of dry weeds fully nude. I'm more comfortable, much much more aware of my positioning, wind shifts that carry flames and blowing sparks and popping hot materials, hyper-aware. I don't find holes, or worse, in my clothing and no smokey smell that an outdoor shower can't cure. With my body, I can trace heat that could affect other dry materials in the area, or could burn trees, if the flames and/or heat are higher than I can see. If it is cold outside, it keeps me warm. In a hot day, I can feel the breezes from the weather's air and also swirling heat and cold exchanges that might save trouble from a surge, or shift.

It is generally very dry here in Tucson, making it very easy for a fire to spread quickly, any little spark.

Mine are controlled fires. Your experiences being out of control, are like a wild animal. Things, changes, happen quickly, bigger, man-made materials, gases, I don't know if I would choose barefoot in such places, if given the choice. I'd probably like to have the ability to stomp out hot falling material, if needed. Definitely a hat. Bob, I'm supposing that you kept a decent distance while spraying/soaking with the hose. and the ground was wet to protect you.

On the way up to Bears Ears, south of Flagstaff, we passed a car in flames off of the side of the interstate. It was just a mass of flames, several feet high, the whole of it going up at once. My jaw dropped, I'd never conceived such. All that I had seen up to that point, were engine compartments, or just smoke. I wonder if that was paint, plastics, or could be so flammable, but gasoline?

"...needing to get out of the motorhome, into more substantial housing..." "Shell shocked." I'd bet he would be ready to move to a bunker!
Jbee

[Safebare]

Correct on all points JBee. Car fires used to be more common, but technology improvements have helped contain the flammable liquids around the engine. We no longer have a fuel bowl right at the intake where a short backfire might cause a conflagration. But the older cars are built with more steel and less plastics. The tires have always been a big threat to exacerbating a car fire, but now the bumpers, accent parts, wheel well liners, etc. will ignite quickly and ferociously. Then there's all of the interior plastics.
People keep their ac on recirculate and windows up, trapping the off-gases from all of that plastic inside the car. Yeah, there are airborne hazards outside the car too, but tests have confirmed that the inside air can be a much higher concentration of chemicals than what's outside the car.
~Safebare

[jbeegoode]

I've always loved "that new car smell." I hear that it helps sell the cars and there are even fragrances for interiors to retain the bouquet. Over the years, I've noticed the aroma changing in new cars, with new components. There is a different smell to an older Ford than a Chevy, or European cars. Some really old upholstery in classics gets kinda raunchy.

So lately, I've been getting into research about chemical and metal toxicity. I've switched shampoos and soaps, several things. There can be over a hundred unproven, no safety test, unique chemicals in just the word "fragrance" (a word in content labeling that legally hides the contents, even amongst "natural ingredients) of say body products!

Air conditioners are essential here and heat essential up north, but I vividly remember car sick in the back seat with mom perfumed up and dad smoking, stuff does get trapped. I'd crawl down and lie on the floor boards to try to escape it.

Off-gasing continues for years, but it seems to temper down in time. If the older car doesn't stink of use, perhaps one of those is best.

It may be another notable reason to sit on a good organic fabric of towel when nude, other than hygiene and stains reasons. Chemical absorption into the naked body have to be happening. Untested, with no safety tests, long or short term chemicals outnumber the tested, thousands to one. It used to be we only had to be concerned with leather treatments. The lead in pewter eating utensils were found to have caused epidemics of disease from the long term poisoning and here we are living in an artificial world. Flame retardants in furniture, etc, have been found to be toxic, even poisons. It took years and centuries for anyone to figure those three out.

Is it less risk to sit on a fire-retardant couch or chemical pants for years, or the odds of burning up in a fire, sitting on that same couch?

I use well washed, fresh air dried towels to sit on. Anybody have a line on safer comfortable fabrics to sit on, or towel off with?...since I spend so much time on my butt.
Jbee