Posted on 03/04/2014 7:31:15 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
It was a close call for one homeowner along Evans Street in Rockville trying to clear the ice off of his front steps.
“[It was a] small fire on the outside of the house,” said Assistant Chief Scott Goldstein of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. “The homeowner appeared to be using some type of torch device to melt ice near his front porch. He lit the siding on fire with a little bit of extension into the house.”
Same kind of idiot that tries to burn the old Christmas tree in the fireplace.
MD ping.
indeed!
Take away his barbecue — for his own safety.
Get the knives too.
But you have to admit, it did melt the ice off the front porch . . . .
My dad was a policeman. Seems one of the bright lights across town tried to do something similar. He used a bunson burner to melt ice off his siding. Of course the house cought fire under the siding and virtually burned to the ground! He laughed for days about that saying I can just hear his wife saying: Boy Marvin, you are real smart to do it that way, up until she saw the smoke.
MD Ping
I’ve got one of those flamethrowers. I use it to kill weeds that grow between my paving stones. This was the first year I tried it on the ever-present ice. With temperatures in the teens, I was able to melt ice, only to see it refreeze instantly, in a purer, more slippery farm. Basically, I turned the device into a portable Zamboni machine.
Used to live in CO mountains. Roof ice dams were very common.
Guys would climb up on an icy roof, sometime two or three stories up, and flail away at the ice with an ax or sledgehammer. And, yes, some tried the torch method.
Results were often not pretty.
And the Honey-O’s.
When I looked at the stack of firewood, I saw that they were using oleander cuttings, which are quite toxic. I gave 'em a heads up and we split for home early. (The guy didn't believe me, by the way.....)
Maryland will probably now regulate and tax all torch like devices. An entire department will be set up “protect the public” from the dangers and misues of such tools. lol
hahaha... the title alone made me chuckle out loud :)
Wouldn’t surprise me, starboard. This neighborhood is only about ten minutes or so from me. The ice on the roof isn’t that bad. We’ve had way worse. Sounds to me like the kind of person who gets rid of an ant hill (regular ants) with five gallons of gasoline and a Bic lighter. LOL!
Reminds me of an old cowpokes cartoon from about 50 years ago.
A cowpoke and his wife are standing in the snow. Around them is a pile of ashes which once was their house. All that is standing up is a kitchen faucet flowing lots of water.
The cowpoke says to his wife, “Don’t feel so bad! I got the pipes unfroze didn’t I!
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