Summer Fire Prevention Tip!

Growing up as a young boy in Missouri I can remember a huge barn full of antiques burning to the ground because of a couple simple and careless mistakes.

It seems that one morning the owner of the barn was stripping some varnish off of an old dresser and he left some used paper towels laying around. Across the room was a mirror. As it grew later in the day and the sun changed position, the afternoon sunlight came through a window, reflected off the mirror and onto the paper towels that were still damp from old paint remover. At that point it was all over. Spontaneous combustion. Nothing left but ashes and memories. Luckily the man and his family were not inside the barn at the time.

Here is one small tip to keep this from happening in your garage / workshop. It's easy.....

1.) Keep a bucket of water in your work area to throw your used paper towels and rags into when you are done with them. Simple, huh?

A free wooden paint stirring stick you can get at any paint store works well to push the towels down into the water. Just leave them in the bucket until you are ready to get rid of them. Then you can dispose of the water soaked rags and towels when trash day comes around.

Summer time is upon us. Yesterday it was over 90 here. The 4th of July is also this weekend, so there are some increased reasons to be careful with flammable products. Along with paper towels and rags, you should also add your old steel wool pads to your water bucket. Steel wool can be extremely ignitable, especially when soaked with things like mineral spirits, paint remover, linseed oil and other refinishing products.

Be safe, fill a bucket with water, and have a fun 4th of July.