Good stuff Stuart...thanks for sharing that insight.
Cecil
Sent from my iPad
On Jul 24, 2013, at 3:35 PM, Stuart Rohre <rohre@arlut.utexas.edu> wrote:
> As an long time fireman, I will mention something to hams needing to store
> things, or to display things.
>
> Heaven forbid you ever have a fire, but hot smoke and gases collect near the
> ceiling, and affect anything stored high, first. Awards on walls, cards,
> gear stored on upper shelf of a closet may be exposed to products of
> combustion, and even flames.
>
> I have seen clothes survive in a closet, which had its door tightly closed,
> even when most of the room was totally destroyed. This particular house fire
> was in the home of a retired military man, who was very strict with his
> children, on keeping their closets closed at all times. But, the least
> affected area of the closet re smoke was down low, near the floor, under the
> hanging clothes.
>
> We found all the closets and clothes intact, even in a bedroom that was so
> hot that decorative candles melted on cabinet tops.
> That saved most of their clothing when all but one wing of three burned.
>
> Sheet rock used in home construction can be a very good insulator, for a
> time. Of course, it can be weakened by water, when firefighting streams are
> used. Good fire training has us direct our water as a fog upward into the
> ceiling area of an involved room; hopefully with a dramatic stopping of the
> fire when steam snuffs it out, by reducing the concentration of oxygen in the
> room. That one fire taught our department to be aware of closets so as to
> lessen damage to their fire resistance.
>
> There is a risk in all things, and even my idea of insulating by styrofoam
> cooler, has the risk of how the styrofoam reacts to a fire.
>
> It may be worth it to rent a fire resistant storage closet in one of the
> commercial storage locations that has everything from garage sized storage to
> narrow closet like compartments.
>
> Safety to all, and check your smoke detectors on some easy to remember
> schedule like a holiday.
>
> Stuart Rohre
> K5KVH
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