A car guy's horror

[rocketraider]

I guess this is everyone's nightmare in old car world.

 

http://www.sovanow.com/index.php?/news/article/massive_fire_torches_vintage_vehicles/

 

I've known Ray and Terry since 8th grade and this hit me like a bag of bricks. I told a friend Saturday night after this storm went thru that it was one of the wildest storms I'd ever seen for lightning.

 

They had just bought a survivor 66 427 Biscayne he'd been after for years, and some of the cars had been in their families since new.

[wayne sheldon]

That always hurts. A collector I know thirty years ago had quite a number of cars stored in several different places. One of the buildings he owned was rented out to a cabinet shop for one half, while he kept a few of his cars in the other half. Then came the day the cabinet shop got careless, and a pile of sawdust ignited. Loose sawdust all over that half the building resulted in a huge fire that destroyed the entire building along with five of his cars. The cars were a significant loss, including a 1950s auto show custom Cadillac, an early 1920s Mercer touring car, and a mid 1910s Simplex. 

Losing one car to an accident or disaster of some sort is rough. Losing a few (or a dozen?) at once can only be imagined. Unless it happens to you.

My condolences to your friends.

[SC38dls]

That’s a tough situation, hopefully they can recover. 

[46 woodie]

That is one of the pitfalls of living in a remote rural area. Not only are you miles from volunteer fire protection, but you are also hampered by the lack of water. As a retired firefighter I urge anyone that is in that situation to consider a sprinkler system and remote hanging extinguishers. If you are in a situation like that, being miles from help, you need to do everything possible to protect yourself and your assets. Even if you need to install a water well and pump to feed the sprinkler system, it is money well spent to protect you, your loved ones and your possession's. Being miles from civilization has it's plusses, but in the case of emergency it can be a nightmare. My prayers to Ray and Terry.

[Walt G]

SO sad to read/see this , every collectors worst fear.

Terry , thanks for your advice about the remote hanging fire extinguishers , any suggestions as to capacity and make that are best? How often they need recharging or ?

that may be a good topic for the forums here!

I have a fire hydrant 120 feet from my garage and a former student lives across the street who is a NY City fire fighter but have been very very lax when it comes to fire extinguishers in the past decade.

Walt

[rocketraider]

These firefighters had the advantage of a city hydrant to fill the trucks but probably still took a half hour every time a truck went to fetch water.

 

I've preached on a couple other car forums about the importance of supporting your local VFD/EMT companies. Most are already underfunded and 2020 beat them up bad in fundraising. If everywhere else is like VA/NC volunteers are expected to maintain the same level of training and equipment as a paid department on a volunteer's salary, and county commissioners are notorious for cutting emergency services funding to fund something that benefits only a small special interest constituency.

 

I rely on 3 volunteer companies here and donate yearly. The primary in VA is 10 miles away. Both  backup/mutual aids are 3 miles away but are in NC, so the primary has to request backup. All three are aware the garage full of Oldsmobiles is here. I have four extinguishers in there as well as an alarm system but you always wonder what if the unthinkable happens.

 

There's a small spring fed creek behind the house that could probably make a good water point for fire trucks if I dammed it. Trouble is it's also the property line so I'd have to get two other landowners to buy in. But it would be within 1/2 mile of 13 homes.

 

NC makes agreements with landowners who have ponds to use them as truck fill water points. They're marked as such.

 

Walt, agreed that garage and storage fire protection is a worthy topic.

[JamesR]

Sorry for your friends' loss, rocketraider. Hope they are covered by insurance. Glad nobody was killed, and best wishes to the firefighter who was injured.

 

Good points made, in that fire is something most of us don't think enough about, and lightning strikes even more so. I wouldn't have the faintest notion how to approach lightning threats, beyond a professionally installed lightning rod, which can't be cheap. Make sure insurance coverage for such cases is adequate, everyone.

[kings32]

As a retired firefighter and lost a garage with cars Iknow what they are going though . When you build don't cut corners Sprinklers are best but some places make it hard to put them in . I tryed . Kings32

[rocketraider]

Here's what was lost.

 

1966 427 Biscayne 2d just purchased in February.

 

1966 ElCamino

 

1955 and 1956 Chevrolets (56 Ray's dad's first new car) and 1956 Chev 150 sedan delivery

 

Terry's father's 1958 Apache pickup (bought new and what she learned to drive on) and her grandfather's 1952 Studebaker truck

 

1969 and 1997 Camaros

 

1970 Chev C10

 

2005 Chev SSR

 

1971 HD SuperGlide

 

Several original gas station signs and other petroliana.

 

Some nice original and restored vehicles and a couple of modified cars. You can tell the Butlers loved their Chevrolets and their families' history.

 

 

[Bryan G]

There was an effort to require all new buildings in our rural county to have sprinkler systems but it met with fierce opposition as the cost would have added so much, especially since most areas are on wells. But, oh, when it's needed. I've seen some modern commercial properties on city water burn to the ground and scratched my head as to why they didn't have sprinklers. One was a Family Dollar store, kids playing with Bic lighters and rubbing alcohol or some such and that whole place went up. 

 

I learned the value of a lightning rod just a few weeks ago. My wife & I were driving along during a brutal storm when, right in front of us, a church steeple was struck. Even caught it on the dash cam! I don't know if they suffered an electrical issues but as we drove by that rod on top that I never noticed before? Standing proud.

 

Certainly a devastating fire here, much like losing some family members. A fellow I know lost several vehicles to a fire and one of them had been his fathers. He was a tough guy but he shed a tear when he walked up.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Bryan G (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Our county code requires all residential (commercial has had sprinklers for years) to be sprinkled now. But not garages or outbuildings. I was against the idea at first, for several reasons but none of them really all that good. Having lost a shop/barn and car in a fire I think they are a good idea now. I have many fire extinguishers strategically placed around my garages.  

 

This was a horrible loss for those people, with a collection that large I would hope they had good insurance. However that still would not cover all that was lost. At least it was only stuff.