cleanin my garage...what if there was a fire????

been thinkin about cleanin my garage up some,its an "l" shape of 2 bays that are 30x60,cement block.im the 3rd generation to use it,and nothing is ever pitched,tho its very neat.a buddy of mine had a small fire with minimal damage.we were talking about what if??.I know where everything is at his place,he wasn't home that evening,i can see his place from mine.i rushed over and informed the firemen where the torches were,gas,and other flamables and dangers were.a few days later we were talking about my place in the thought of safety for the firemen if mine ever had a fire.out consensus is "wow,what a mess".we were just thinking quickly and we came up with,2 sets of torches,2 drums of gas full,various gans ,say a half dozen of vp fuel,a drum of vp,100 gallon of diesel,20-25 tires,3 different drums of oil,30 gallon of cutting oil,full drum of parts cleaner.now the scary part,dynamite,im the 4th generation to oversee our local cemetery,my dad and grandfather have made it clear to me theres some in the garage,but never told me where,because young boys like to blow things up..lol..well grandfather is gone,ive never found it,i looked half assed,dad says he forgets were its at,benn 40 yrs since they used it.ive got plenty of room to make a "safe area" for the liquid flammables.i really think id have to tell the fire dept to just stand back if it ever was on fire and it was not looking good.all the flammables I mentioned are just randomly spread through out the building.do any of you guys have a floor plan at the fire dept laying out the dangers in your shop/garage.???

My advice to you would be to post placards on the outside of the building near the primary entrance warning of the chemicals located inside.

You could call your local Fire Dept. and ask.
That reminds me, I'm past due making a donation to mine.

I had a similar situation (without the dynamite, ha) and I set up a little fuel shed for flammables. I sure do like it - more peace of mind. Cutting torch is still in the shop. A local guy had aged dynamite in an old refrigerator. Family got the local authorities to dispose of it for him after he died. Don't know if there was cost to the family, but nothing is free.

Placards are great there's enough hazard without emergency personnel knowing what they're walking into. For 34 years I've ran a fire extinguisher business. Cheap insurance that most don't want to purchase plain and simple insurance you may never need. Understandable. For many years I've given away old fire extinguishers not acceptable for business' because too old. Perfectly operable. I live in a rural area and readily give away many to farmers during harvest and anyone else. Otherwise they go to scrap. My point being keep them around and check them like your smoke detectors

There are 4-digit placards available with the proper codes per the materials that are stored. Big help to fire dept. personnel to know what they"re getting into.

If you find the old dynamite box DO NOT MOVE IT.
Call someone who knows how to handle it. Old stuff is much more unstable than new. The Nitroglycerin settles to the bottom if the box is not regularly rotated. It also dries out and makes it more unstable. I witnessed the South State Fire Marshall and a DCI agent dispose of some old sticks.

I would CLEAN IT OUT. Put the flammable stuff in another building away from the shop. All it takes is one spark and BOOM!

About 48 years ago, my uncle asked me to tear down the old corn crib on grandpa's farm. It had an attic with a rusty tin roof. I went up in the attic and found a half case of dynamite with the caps and fuse on top. Went and told my dad and we took the caps and buried them very deep. Took the old dynamite down to the creek and crushed it up with my hands and let it float downstream. If I had called the sheriff's office back then, they wouldn't have known what to do with it.
Guess I am lucky to be here.
Richard in NW SC

Usually if you call your local Police/Sheriff or Emergency Government they can dispose of unwanted explosives without cost. If they have an EOD qualified individual in their department or a bomb squad they'll do it, if they don't they can call a NRC (National Response Center) and get it handled. Don't know what has changed since I was in but the Army did the continental land Mass, the Navy did all ordinance under the normal water line of any navigable body of water, The Air Force did response on USAF installations or items under Air Force Control when things went wrong. The Marines did all inerting and I suppose their stuff that wasn't under water. In the Air Force we had a joke if we ran into something we didn't want to deal with wed chuck it over the fence or pee on it until it was under water than call the Army or Navy. I was stationed in Florida an we meet monthly with the local Sheriff's department bomb squad and sometimes trained with them. If they called the NRC for support it was usually assigned to a Army unit out of Jacksonville Florida unless they declared it an emergency and requested us (local in their community) As far as WWII stuff uf we ran into any we called the Sheriff's dept, they were better on that stuff than we were.

As has been said you need a separate little shed for flammables. We used to have dynamite and caps around when I was a kid. disposal was no big deal. at least back then it was just burned. As was said it looses stability with age so at a certain age it was burned.

How long are expired extinguishers able to be counted on? I have one here that came from a business getting rid of it like you said. Pressure reads good but could it still be bad?

Also I bought a small one 22 years ago and it's still on the wall. Again pressure reads fine but would it work? If I remember it's there.

Neighbor had a case of dynamite overhead in his garage. He noticed that it was dripping one hot day, so he took it down the driveway aways and set it off.

It blew out every window on the farm, left a hole in the driveway about 10 ft. deep and 20ft. diameter. He was razzed about that incident for years.

yea, right,..call the authorities, they'll get rid of it for you, just hope they don't do it like our locals did,..found some dynamite in a self storage and said to dangerous to remove. soaked it with diesel and burned it on the spot, along with half the building

By the time our fire company gets here the shop will be ashes and anything that wants to go boom already will have. Stinks, but thems the facts when you live in the sticks. Of course, if the state and feds hadn't made it so blastedly expensive to form and run a fire co we could have one 3 minutes down the road, lower insurance rates for everyone, and probably save lots of property and a few lives. But, I guess holding volunteer firemen and companies to big city professional standards in way more important than saving lives and property.

It's a real sore spot for me.

(quoted from post at 06:06:04 12/05/14)
By the time our fire company gets here the shop will be ashes and anything that wants to go boom already will have. Stinks, but thems the facts when you live in the sticks. Of course, if the state and feds hadn't made it so blastedly expensive to form and run a fire co we could have one 3 minutes down the road, lower insurance rates for everyone, and probably save lots of property and a few lives. But, I guess holding volunteer firemen and companies to big city professional standards in way more important than saving lives and property.

It's a real sore spot for me.

Click to expand...

Our local fire kids saved a cellar here last week. Chief drives his command car direct and watches the fire, while engine sits at station with one kid. He has to wait for two who are fully certified to show up so that they can leave. Chief won't allow anyone who is not fully certified to perform the tasks that they are certified for, until they get their FF1. Very few are willing to take the time to get the full certification. This arrangement is the chief's pathway to more full-timers, much bigger budget and more $ for himself.

(quoted from post at 06:45:02 12/05/14)

(quoted from post at 06:06:04 12/05/14)
By the time our fire company gets here the shop will be ashes and anything that wants to go boom already will have. Stinks, but thems the facts when you live in the sticks. Of course, if the state and feds hadn't made it so blastedly expensive to form and run a fire co we could have one 3 minutes down the road, lower insurance rates for everyone, and probably save lots of property and a few lives. But, I guess holding volunteer firemen and companies to big city professional standards in way more important than saving lives and property.

It's a real sore spot for me.

Click to expand...

Our local fire kids saved a cellar here last week. Chief drives his command car direct and watches the fire, while engine sits at station with one kid. He has to wait for two who are fully certified to show up so that they can leave. Chief won't allow anyone who is not fully certified to perform the tasks that they are certified for, until they get their FF1. Very few are willing to take the time to get the full certification. This arrangement is the chief's pathway to more full-timers, much bigger budget and more $ for himself.

Click to expand...

One of the wife's uncles had a fire a few years ago. The volunteer FD that responded just watched the place burn and only made sure it wasn't going to spread. FD policy. Had he ask for another volunteer FD that was the same distance they would have tried to put the fire out or save as much as they could. He looked into it after the total loss. Nothing he could do. The FD on site policy says the only way they will try to actually fight a fire is if there is still someone inside. The other department is the one that responded to my BIL's tractor fire. They were on site in 14 minutes. Pretty darn good for the FD being in a town of less than 100 people and guys dropping everything and some driving as much as 8 miles just to get to the fire hall.

As far as you building for the OP. I'd get as much of the flammables out of the building as possible. If there still is explosives in the building find it and get someone in to remove it! If it's been around that long most likely it isn't stable!

Rick

(quoted from post at 16:49:59 12/05/14)

(quoted from post at 06:45:02 12/05/14)

(quoted from post at 06:06:04 12/05/14)
By the time our fire company gets here the shop will be ashes and anything that wants to go boom already will have. Stinks, but thems the facts when you live in the sticks. Of course, if the state and feds hadn't made it so blastedly expensive to form and run a fire co we could have one 3 minutes down the road, lower insurance rates for everyone, and probably save lots of property and a few lives. But, I guess holding volunteer firemen and companies to big city professional standards in way more important than saving lives and property.

It's a real sore spot for me.

Click to expand...

Our local fire kids saved a cellar here last week. Chief drives his command car direct and watches the fire, while engine sits at station with one kid. He has to wait for two who are fully certified to show up so that they can leave. Chief won't allow anyone who is not fully certified to perform the tasks that they are certified for, until they get their FF1. Very few are willing to take the time to get the full certification. This arrangement is the chief's pathway to more full-timers, much bigger budget and more $ for himself.

Click to expand...

One of the wife's uncles had a fire a few years ago. The volunteer FD that responded just watched the place burn and only made sure it wasn't going to spread. FD policy. Had he ask for another volunteer FD that was the same distance they would have tried to put the fire out or save as much as they could. He looked into it after the total loss. Nothing he could do. The FD on site policy says the only way they will try to actually fight a fire is if there is still someone inside. The other department is the one that responded to my BIL's tractor fire. They were on site in 14 minutes. Pretty darn good for the FD being in a town of less than 100 people and guys dropping everything and some driving as much as 8 miles just to get to the fire hall.


Rick

Click to expand...

That's insane! Why bother calling them?