If anyone else has done something this stupid I wanna hear about it if anything else to make me feel better. I left the cap off the denatured alcolhol and then used my drill, the drill sparked lit the fumes and some on the ground I grabbed the can so it would 'nt light as i did this it lit in my hands I had welding gloves on but it shot fire out nailing me in the face I tossed it away into the driveway it lit nearly lit my mom's car I grabbed the extinguisher and put it out but damn what was I thinking (Oh wait thats right I was'nt)

 

You're lucky you are well enough to get online to FTE, eh? Good to hear you weren't hurt too badly. I suppose after your wounds have healed, and with a little time, you may see some humor in this experience.

 

Since you weren't seriuosly hurt, that's some pretty funny stuff.
Here's my funny story, since nobody was seriously hurt either.
When I was a kid, working at a gas station, one of my friends ran out of gas just coming in the driveway at my work. Since it was uphill, the Blazer was too heavy to push to the pumps. We didn't have a loaner gas can so we got a soda can and poured some gas down the bowl-vent tube to fill the float bowl and drive it over to the pumps. I figured I'd better pour some down the venturis to prime it. My buddy was in front of the truck, I was on the core support pouring the soda can into the carb, when my buddys brother tried to start the engine. The thing sneezed through the carb, igniting the soda can as well as my hand. In a panic, I slung the can away and hit my buddy that was standing there, right in the chest, setting him on fire, too. I jumped down, grabbed the squeegie bucket and put him out. He didn't get burned, and we learned a good lesson.

 

To bad for your unfortunate situation and glad you were not seriously injured. A few years ago i was on my way to work and was extremely low on gas and had very little time to spare with about a thousand things on my mind. I stopped at a gas station to get 1.00's worth of gas. It turns out my timing was just right, at the same time of a shift change. The ladies told me i had to wait about 5 minutes and i decided i didn't have that kind of time so i proceeded to drive away and this is when the problems begin. See, ihad already inserted the nozzle into my gas tank only to discover this was one of the few stations at the time that required you to pay first. Anyway, i drove away, and out of the rear view mirror i seen huge flames where the pump used to be and flames where the pump now was (next to my truck) I jumped out, grabbed the pump hose, and dragged the burning pump to a neutral corner of the lot and grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the fire out before to much damage was done. A few moments later the fire department, police and all other interested parties arrived. No one got hurt but i learned some very expensive lessons that day. I learned to plan ahead and keep the tank at a reasonable level and i alway's look in my side mirror to ensure the nozzle is removed, which has now become a habit. We all learn from mistakes, but it is to bad that some people don't have the opportunity to tell about it and yes laugh about it after the fact.

 

Well, once upon a time, I was handed a flaming shot of Everclear. I looked at it for a split second, not long enough for my tipsy brain to get things straight, and drank it BEFORE I blew out the flame. As the flame burned my nose hairs, I coughed and the flaming liquid splattered accross the bar. I actually escaped with only a slight burn, no worse than from drinking hot coffee. But I think I have never been as foolhardy again while drinking.

Anyhow, whatever this has to do with your story, beats me. Of course, alcohol and fames always bring back a certain memory for me!!!!

 

Ok this doesn't have a truck involved but here it goes.

A guy I work with went camping for the first time in his life being a city boy he had no campfire experiance.
He woke up at about 2:am cold and slightly hung over. He stacks some wood on some coals and sits for a bit with no luck. He than sees a can of gas setting next to thier car. He grabs the can and dumps the gas over the top of the wood. Well we all know what happens when we put gas on hot coals right. Yup up in flames he goes. the screaming wakes his friends who see him running through the woods on fire. They tackle him and put out the flames. he was not so lucky. third degree burns over 30% of his body was medi_flighted out and spent 6 weeks in the hospital. When I asked him what he was thinking he told me that nobody had ever told him that gas was so flamable.

True story

jd

 

As a volunteer firefighter a see alot of senseless burn injuries. However, as my wife was heating up oil for her french fries, the pot ignited on the stove in my new house. I turned off the stove and covered the pot. To avoid smoking out my new kitchen I proceeded to carry the hot oil to the door. The oil spilled on to my hand as I got to the door causing me to throw the pot outside. I ended up with a small burn on my hand but I burnt my floor, door, and back steps. Although we all know better, sometimes we all screw up, it's human nature. By the way, we don't make french fries anymore.

Frank

 

I had an episode of stupidity recently. I was heating a bolt on a stuck thermostat neck that would not budge. As I was heating it up, the pressure side of the fuel rail on a 93 Ford Taurus 3.8 popped from the rising heat and caught fire. ( nice little fireball! ) I turn the propane torch off, grabbed a rag and beat out the flame. Scared the crap out of me and cost me $75.00 for a used rail. Thank goodness that car had been sitting for over a week and it hadn't built up full pressure. I learned my lesson on that one!

Barry

 

Some times those things happen even when you do it all right too!

I was a Aircraft Mechanic in the National guard for a few years. We often got bulletins about updates in procedures and parts and such. I read a bulletin about a fire at a aircraft hangar not too foar from mine.

A tech was cleaning some bearings for a repack. The manual called for cleaning with a chemical agent and allow to dry. The tech then threw the rag into the rag can. The second step was to clean the bearing again to remove the residue left by the first. The tech did so and aagain put the rag in the rag can. Wasn't too long later the can was smoking, and burst into flames. One of the guys who worked there (who I met later in a course he taught) was a volunteer fire chief, and did a little investigating. Come to find out when the two chemicals are mixed directly, they burst into a pretty blue flame. That certainly was not in the manuals. I cant remember what they were, but I think MEK was one of them (cant even get that stuff anymore that I can find), but most of the stuff we used was pretty nasty by themself much less mixing up a firebomb.

Ron

 

As a weapons systems test engineer I got the opportunity to see many things go awry. Many things don't go as planned but the one constant is to plan for personnel safety. In 15 years of test we never injured anyone as a result of test but we did mess up some serious hardware including the complete destruction and leveling of a building.

A missile that was supposed to detonate on impact flew in one side and out the other side of a target tank, leaving only a 5 inch round window in both sides. We realized it was going so fast it blew up after it exited the far side! At 2625 feet per second it was in and out of there in 3 milliseconds. We later added a proximity fuze to start the detonation sequence 10 meters early.

Another test was to catch a missile in a large kevlar net using only a 10 percent short load of propellant. We didn't anticipate that the needle-like nose cone would separate the woven material in multiple layers of netting and continue to fly into the woods, nearly missing a heavily traveled roadway in tourist-laden Orlando. Now that would have been a vacation story to tell your grandkids.

And on a day when a tour group had come to witness a hydraulic actuated nose cone push through test, the nose cone broke away from the accelerated hydraulic actuator, ripped a hole in the roof, and came crashing down through the roof again a meager 20 feet from the crowd of on-lookers. Luck definately plays a part in evolution and natural selection!

 

Well this at least makes me feel better and I have already seen the humor I wish my mom would

 

RaleighDad66,

What DOD contractor do you work for?

 

It is a good thing you werent hurt or anything damaged, other then pride....But it is good you learned not to do what ya did at a young age as many people do crazy things for years thinking 'it is ok, nothing has ever gone wrong....' The thing is is it only takes once for a little error on judgement to cause a really bad accident....Just a little food for thought...liqid gas doesnt burn.....but the fumes sure do.....my Dad can attest to that....keep open lines related to fuel system covered/capped when doing service....

cs65

 

The DOD contractor was Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin. They used to have a remote test facility right next to International Drive because the facility was there before the tourists but lo, the tourists won and the facility is no more.

 

It is funny how things work out.