Ride on Lawn mowers and fire danger

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi earth lovers,
Ive just in the past hour had a local (5miles away) friend call round nearly intears as he's just lost his Lawn mower due to fire,
You might ask how did this happen "Well he bought the mower two weeks ago and he asked me to go with him to look at three used mowers he'd seen localy and all different makes,
We had a good talk and as he'd never had a ride on i advised him to go for a john deer make as ive had mine for years and it has some very good points about this make (A) very well made and tested machine (B) No problem getting parts (C) the belt replaced via the top of the Decking and so you can see without getting under the machine or removing the deck from the machine when changing belts,
And last but not least the newer models have a hose pipe plug in device for cleaning the under decking after using the mower,
He was very interested in what i had to say and asked how old my machine was? 6yrs I replied
He said it looked like new and i told him i clean the under decking after every cut and then air compresser to get all the grass off the verious parts of the under body pre putting the machine away.
Well he spent 2 hours cutting his grass area"s and then put the machine away and went indoors, 2 hours later his nieghbour came knocking on his door to tell him his out house was smoking,
The dried grass had caught fire and now he has no lawn mower and he's lucky to have got away lightly.
Dried grass left near a hot engine is a big fire risk.

 

[Chuck]

A few years ago the Volunteer Fire Depts of several communities had a big BBQ party in a pasture with dead grass about 1 foot tall. They all parked their cars in this area. A catalytic converter on one of the cars caught the grass on fire and burned up most of the firemen's cars.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Maybe these fire fighters need some education ref how and where to park their vehicles,
Didnt someone have any idea the risk parking on foot tall dried grass may and in this case did do?

 

[Silentrunning]

As a fireman let me add some insight to this subject. Brush fires are on our minds whenever we leave the paved road. We have to weigh many factors before we attack an active fire. Our first consideration is traffic. Are we on a busy highway or country back road? Do we have enough hose to reach the fire from the road? Is there a human life at risk? The Chief or Captain has to decide almost instantly where to place the trucks to best service the situation. Some times the truck has to be placed over dry grass to utilize a hydrant. Our first priority is saving lives. Second saving property. Worrying about burned grass is way down the list. We always have an operator manning the truck and they can protect it when necessary.

Chuck’s example of the BBQ incident does show a department badly in need of basic training. Thankfully those type of departments are in the minority.

 

[Chuck]

As a fireman let me add some insight to this subject. Brush fires are on our minds whenever we leave the paved road. We have to weigh many factors before we attack an active fire. Our first consideration is traffic. Are we on a busy highway or country back road? Do we have enough hose to reach the fire from the road? Is there a human life at risk? The Chief or Captain has to decide almost instantly where to place the trucks to best service the situation. Some times the truck has to be placed over dry grass to utilize a hydrant. Our first priority is saving lives. Second saving property. Worrying about burned grass is way down the list. We always have an operator manning the truck and they can protect it when necessary.

Chuck’s example of the BBQ incident does show a department badly in need of basic training. Thankfully those type of departments are in the minority.

Most volunteer fire depts. in Texas are manned by citizens and are not trained firemen like in the towns and cities.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Maybe nows the time for someone to make up a continuing fire fighters program of the do's and donts before the next big fire comes are way,
Ive found in the past that many a time with all the good intent in the world the untrained canbe more of both a danger and take up valued time getting them out of trouble than can be needed,
People who give their time and for little or no reward are well worth training both to ensure their safe being and so they can do a good job at what they've offered to do,
Nobody who wants to be a good citizen should end up paying with his life or ending up unable to support his family due to injury.

 

[Silentrunning]

Most volunteer fire depts. in Texas are manned by citizens and are not trained firemen like in the towns and cities.

I am a volunteer fireman and state certified in Florida and North Carolina. I also have passed Rescue Squad training in Florida. I did this at my own expense and while holding down a full time job. Just saying.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi Silentrunning nice to talk to you,
The system were a volunteer pays for his training i feel is wrong, your willing to give up your time to be of service is enough the training should be the best you can have and you should be paid while your training,
No free meals when it comes to the likes of these services.

 

[Silentrunning]

This is our most recent fire in downtown Warrenton, N.C. This was a 100 year old structure that went from smoke to fully engulfed in about 5 minutes. We managed to save the 5 attached businesses and the one behind it. I believe there were 7 volunteer departments from as far away as South Hill Virginia.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Wow this just says it all, You can give your heart in doing this sort of work "But" And this is the point it should be the first common sense
" must" to have the training so its a first class team,
Take it from me team work works but if you've a couple of guys who are not trained to work in that team then things go wrong and at a high cost.
Good on these people who are willing to give all for the safety of others.