Garage Fire

[adsm08]

So my grandfather burned down his garage tonight. Nobody was hurt, and I'm not 100% sure how it started, but there was a lot of damage.

The main garage, including what was an 03 Sierra that only had about 53K miles on it,


The add-on shed in the back, where he kept all his lawn equipment,


And the real loss of the day, his almost fully restored 1947 Chrysler New Yorker


The Chrysler hadn't been running, and he was working on it when something lit off. I am kind of wondering if it back-fired through the intake and lit off the lines and tank, the garage went up too fast for at least one fuel tank to not be involved in the start.

Frankly, this is not the grandfather I thought I needed to worry about setting his garage on fire.

 

[faststang90]

Sorry to see/ hear that just


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[alwaysFlOoReD]

f**k, that hurts....
Today I spent a few hours cleaning the aftermath of the fire I had last spring. I'm glad I had insurance on my tools but I still lost 10's of thousands $ in parts and my 68 Torino.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I doubt a backfire would do it but a fuel leak or crunchy old wiring certainly could.

It's too bad though, I hate seeing cars in garage fires. Feels like they were trapped in there somehow.

 

[adsm08]

I doubt a backfire would do it but a fuel leak or crunchy old wiring certainly could.

It's too bad though, I hate seeing cars in garage fires. Feels like they were trapped in there somehow.

The Chrysler was more than the truck. Someone was driving by as the fire started going and pulled in to try and help, he waited for the garage door to open behind the truck instead of just running through the door, which while not ideal would certainly have done much less damage.

 

[97RangerXLT]

oh man...

Glad no one was hurt, but that is a shame on the New Yorker. The Sierra should be easily replaced.

AJ

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The Chrysler was more than the truck. Someone was driving by as the fire started going and pulled in to try and help, he waited for the garage door to open behind the truck instead of just running through the door, which while not ideal would certainly have done much less damage.

Yeah, the NY would hurt more.

I meant more than a hunk of iron in a burning building though. More like a horse in a burning barn on a western. Trapped in there to die by no fault of their own. When I lived in an appartment one of the garages burnt down due to someone smoking. All the burned out husks sitting lined up in their stalls, it was sad.

Opening the door probably made it worse too.

 

[adsm08]

oh man...

Glad no one was hurt, but that is a shame on the New Yorker. The Sierra should be easily replaced.

AJ

Yeah, the Sierra won't be missed long I don't think. He has been asking me questions about the Ecoboost F-150s for a few months now, looking to get a truck that did a little better on gas than the 5.3 because he likes taking the truck to visit my uncle in Punxy, their van, which was not there at the time, doesn't get around some of those "roads" out there very well.

The New Yorker was the real loss, like I said. Not only would it be hard to replace, but it was a replica of his father's car that he restored with the help of two friends who are both dead now. I really doubt he will take on another project to replace that one too. It had sat there for about three years because he just doesn't have the time or energy to mess with old cars like he used to.

I might try to get my dad's 48 Plymouth Deluxe over here to start work soon, and see if he will help me with that. The two cars were bought as a pair when I was a kid.

 

[RonD]

Very sorry to read about this

No one hurt was good to read

 

[Doofy]

Very sad. Certainly glad there were no human injuries.

 

[Tedybear]

Stark reminder about how important having fire suppression tools near by work areas.

Even the best of us can have an accident. Things can be replaced. The fact no one was hurt is a blessing.

S-

 

[Curious Hound]

That stinks. Hate to hear about that happening to anyone. Glad there were no injuries.

 

[Mark_88]

Wow...so fast and so devastating. Good to hear no injuries though...

 

[Clay Lorance]

Damn man, that sucks. Thank god nobody was hurt. Sorry to see that that happened. All hopes and prayers are with you bud.

 

[adsm08]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the prayers and good thoughts and such.

I went over today to look things over. The Chrysler may not be a total loss. Grandpa thinks the bumpers and a few of the doors may be salvageable.

The grille, which was a pewter kind of metal, is completely gone.

While we were talking Gramps made the point that while losing the Chrysler sucks it was basically a toy that didn't get played with much. The truck is the worse loss to him because it was a tool, and with the age vs the mileage he won't get anything near it's actual value for it from the insurance.

But we will get through it, we always do. My dad has a truck with fewer than 10K on the engine, I just have to fix a few minor things for SI and we have the Expedition with the tow package, so we have work vehicles. His big trailer was at my dad's house, so it was nice and safe.