Lucky morning

Had an old man ladder ( Nice JLG 40 ft man lift) Pulled it down to the house to clean the gutters this morning.Went in to take a short brake and heard a muffled explosion, looked out and blases were comming out pretty storng. Told the wife to call fire dept, and move the autos from the car port. At that time was sure the hous would catch. The thing was only 20 fteet from this wood house. I grabbed the 315 cat hoe and just as fast as I could came down and managed to get to the basket and pull the man lift from the house. Got it out in the drive, fire dept arrived pretty quick but machine is a total loss, but could have been a lot worse. Can always replace the machine. Thin is I was using it all day yesterday up pretty much to capacity. Guess I would have been toast.

God is good. He certainly was watching over you.

Nancy he was really smilling on us. Just happened that the wind was from the other direction, blowing away from the house, Was extreeme heat and the house is western ceader, would have went fast. I had just brought the cat hoe in for service and it is the only thing that saved the house. Nothing else here would have moved that machin as when they are not running everything is locked.. Anway thanks for the response

That was sure lucky- Wonder if you could have lowered yourself in the bucket fast enough if it had happened yesterday?

We had a Ford diesel pickup catch fire in the driveway in the middle of the night- neighbor just happened to glance out the window on his way to bed. He called us, I ran out to find it fully involved, but just burning fiercly rather than exploding, because it was diesel. SIX FEET from the house. Winter time, so hoses not real handy, but I got one out while Mrs. called Fire dept.

I sprayed the wall, hoping to keep ahead of the heat- but there wasn't any! I figured water would evaporate on contact, but it stayed wet. So I'd water the house, then water the truck, until fire dept arrived. They pointed temp gun at the house, and it was under 100 degrees F. Wind was lightly blowing away from the house, and that's what saved us.

Next day, we got a recall notice for possibility of leaky brake master cylinder dripping fluid on the brake light actuator, possible fire hazard. Ya think?

Fire marshall couldn't find source, because it was really incinerated (fuel tanks fed the flames after fuel lines burned off). But insurance Co. was real cooperative and gave us an excellent price.

Close call. Glad you and your house are okay!

You my friend lead a blessed life!
Sorry for the loss of a good boom lift, but as you said IT can be replaced.

Yikes, was just reading about one of those burning up from a fire outside of the machine. Operator jumped to get away but died in the fall.

We're doing a move at my work, which includes my using the manlift a LOT as I'm building cranes, installing electrical, and changing around airlines in the new shop. Stuff like this gets to me because out Genie is thick with problems. Most of the time the travel reverse works at about 1/2 mph, then it will "fix" itself and surprise you with the full speed you requested. Once it completely refused to go forward, locking the basket against the cab of the f650. Battery is constant problem as at idle there is no charging so if you are trying to be gentle with your movements by running it at idle much you're asking for getting stuck sky high.
I could go on and on, but I'm just glad you didn't become a statistic.