Fire doesn’t care whose fault it is
It’s that time of year again when reports of home fires pop up on the local news seemingly once or twice a week. Woodshops haven’t been spared.
It’s that time of year again when reports of home fires pop up on the local news seemingly once or twice a week. Woodshops haven’t been spared. I’ve talked about this before, but a devastating four-alarm woodshop fire just this past Saturday reminded me that it was probably time to do so again.
The fire took place at M.L. Custom Millwork and Cabinetry in Sagamore Beach, Mass., and took more than 60 Cape Cod area firefighters some six hours to bring under control. Looking at the photos below from the Bourne (Mass.) Police Department, it’s easy to see why. No inkling yet what started the blaze, nor any estimate of the damage. With the fire mainly in the woodshop and storage area, the company is closed down.
Meanwhile, just one day earlier, Crewdson’s Creations, a pro shop in North Platte, Neb., when went up in flames when a spark in the company’s dust collection system started a fire. Derek Crewdson, who was working in the shop at the time, thought he’d taken care of the situation with a fire extinguisher, but it reignited. The spreading fire touched off the tank on a gas-powered sawmill. While the fire spared part of the workshop and offices, the sawmill and other tools were lost. Crewdson estimates the damage at around $100,000.
On the same day, the L.J. Gascho Furniture Co. in Pigeon, Mich., caught fire in the early morning hours. Fast response by 13 area fire departments managed to contain the blaze to the shop’s finishing building until getting it put out. The building was a total loss. No determination yet on the fire’s cause or estimate on damage.
When is the last time you reviewed your shop regarding fire control? It doesn’t matter if your shop is a one-man operation, a multi-employee facility, or a simple home hobbyist shop. The precautions and dangers are the same. Remove accumulated dust, dispose of small scrap, double-check anything that could create a spark, and inspect fire extinguishing equipment. Do it now.
Sure, fires can start for any number of reasons, not all of them the fault of woodworkers’ direct actions. But when your shop starts burning, if you haven’t done regular proactive fire prevention measures, no one else is responsible but you.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
