Re: fire safety

["Malcolm Watts" <M.J.Watts-at-massey.ac.nz> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Dave,
          How likely do you think it is that a fire hazard is 
exacerbated by a room full of 03-rich air?

Regards,
Malcolm

On 23 Aug 00, at 17:05, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> We all obviously know the electrocution hazards in dealing with
> Tesla circuits, but as a professional firefighter in my real job, it
> sometimes seems that we tend to downplay the true fire danger
> involved with this hobby, especially w/ high powered Tesla coils.
> The problem I've noticed in firing my large 10 ft sparker in my 
> claustrophobic 12 ft x 20 ft wood frame shop is that sometimes
> I will notice a carbonized spot here and there on the outer wood
> siding of the shop building. I fear this may not be noticable when 
> it is actually burned by one of the streamers but slowly smolders
> till the burnt spot appears on the surface. The fire hazard is obvi-
> ous. Fire beneath the outer surface gives firefighters the biggest 
> problems with extinguishing structure fires and if all possible sources 
> of subsurface smoldering debris are not removed, there will likely
> be a re-kindle some time after the fire dept. has left the fire scene
> (sometimes several hours later!!)
> 
> Just wanted to remind everyone of fire safety as well as electri-
> cal safety. I do keep a charged fire extinguisher in my shop to
> quickly extinguish a flash fire, but if a streamer ignites the wood
> internally, it may not be noticed till it breaks out some time later
> and if it continues to burn unchecked it may be too late  to
> extinguish (without calling me!) when it does become noticable
> and gains unlimited access to the O2 of the open air! And I'd do
> good to heed my own advice on this matter, too. Maybe someday
> I can build a nice tall metal building for my coiling,
> 
> My professional $.02 worth,
> Be Safe----- David Rieben
> 
> 
>