Hmm What's that burning smell?

[Stevel]

Sat at the PC earlier when I thought I could smell burning. Came down stairs and the missus said she could smell it too but that, "it seems to be coming from outside"

So opened the front door to be greeted by smoke and flying ash everywhere and flames coming from the house two doors away.

Turned out that a shed adjacent to their fence had caught fire which in turn had set fire to the fence itself. The fences are actually all connected so we abandoned house along with the rest of the street.

The Fire Brigade arrived and soon had the fire out but the speed it was moving along the fence meant the another few minutes and myself and the my neighbour would have been knocking some sections out to stop it spreading.

As it was the fire melted a huge kids climbing frame in my neighbours garden as well as destroying half of the fence.

The Fire Brigade were only here last week to discuss fire safety in the home and Recce. access points for the Tenders.

[rushy]

Glad your all ok mate, fire can spread at one hell of a rate.

[glenboy]

Glad it wasn't in the middle of the night and you're were able to help assist the brigade,lucky escape.

[ditchp]

lucky escape indeed mate......

[scottyd]

lucky escape indeed ive had a house fire when i stayed at my mums about 2.30am asleep lucky to get out of house we were out of home for 9 months!!!

[ANDY W]

Glad you and your family are ok but there could be a good side to this.
You now an excuse to go and polish your car due to all that ash that was in the air, it could get you out of somthing you dont want to do.

[Lump]

well at least your all ok mate, did you leave that mop plugged in ?

[Stevel]

lol. Last seen flying through the air to the back of the garage.

We went round the see the damage in daylight earlier. The guy kept a motorbike in the shed but all you can make out is the engine and forks. Can't see the fuel tank but there were a few mini explosions so maybe that was the cause.

The wind was quite strong last blowing the fire along the fence towards the houses. It was only today it became apparent that if it had been blowing the other way it would have set fire to the trees which run the entire length of the back gardens on our side of the road and back right up to everyone's fence. That's why we were all lucky in the end.

The cause is still not known.

[Stevel]

lucky escape indeed ive had a house fire when i stayed at my mums about 2.30am asleep lucky to get out of house we were out of home for 9 months!!!

Christ that's horrendous. Thank god you all got out.

[Duncan]

Blimey Steve, glad it didn't get out of control and start heading for the houses!

It's not a pleasant experience at all - me and my previous GF were once in a photographic studio (1st floor of a four storey building in London) using it at the weekend (belonged to the photographer she worked for at the time) when we suddenly saw smoke coming through the floorboards. I rang 999 and we got out sharpish - by then the place was already thick with smoke. We had presence of mind to buzz all the buzzers at the front door just in case - were gobsmacked to hear somebody reply and we screamed at them to get out! She was on the fourth floor and only just made it before it took a hold!

Transpires that where the fire started (ground floor) was a reprographic type place and somebody had gone in, opened a gas pipe and set fire to it for the purposes of an insurance claim (business was going down the pan) and they did that without giving a about who was on the other floors of the building!! It all went up so quickly due to all the materials/chemicals they had - completely gutted the whole building.

The owner of the business was eventually sent down - could've killed three people by what he did!

Anyway, I digress - glad it didn't turn into something really serious.