close call

Mainegg · February 2008

NOT the way to smoke some beef. I have a "chuckie" on and went out to check it. Had to shake the grate as it was blocked a little. set the ash pan on top of the rubber maid tote of lump! STUPID. What was even stupider was walking away after i had filled drip pan with apple jc and check the temp of the meat. I totally forgot the ash pan. the heat of the ash melted the top of the tote and tipped the still hot ash into the tote of lump. About 2 hours later I could smell "weird" smoke, plasticky went out to check on things and about DIED! Thank god for all the snow! I panicked and looked at the whole tote of smoldering lump. opened the small egg and dumped it all in there, to save it, LOL, then swept the lump on the deck in to a large tray i had sitting there. had to dig some that was burnt in to the deck. I poured about 6 gallons of water into the cracks of the deck. that was about the dumbest thing i have done in along long time. I am still shaking. burnt my finger and didn't even know it till i loaded the picture. So a good tip to newbies and not so newbies that do not think they would do anything so stupid. I never thought i would either. I am embarrassed to even read it now that i read back over this. i just hope it is a warning to someone else. I know there has been some close calls on here and I think it is Chris that is in a new home due to something similar. these Eggs are great but they need to be respected. I still love my eggs and will be much more careful in the future. sorry to ramble. Julie

Mainegg · February 2008

Just realized that this gives a very good reason to have more than 1 egg. I used the other one to save the lump.

Keithww · February 2008

On my old deck, I had a 3x5 sheet of concrete board that I used as a burn pad. worked great. Never any issues. Then I let the leaves pile up a little one day, and a coal from the starter chimney lit the leaves and the fire got under the deck and the burn pad. The worst part was I had pored the lit coals in to the smoker, thrown on the meat, and left, so I didn't realize I had a non contained fire. I came home later to flames under the deck.

I hated that deck, and was planning on tearing it down from a few days after we bought the home till I finally took it down last fall. I was lucky that it didn't hit the house. The new deck is Trex and it will not host a fire. I'm putting in a hard scape area for all fires, I figure that will make for better sleeping on those low and slows.

Glad your wasn't any worse than it was.

NibbleMeThis · February 2008

Right now, I keep my egg and table in our garage and wheel it onto the driveway to smoke. My wife wants me to put it out on the deck this summer. :S

There is something reassuring about 'playing with fire' on a concrete surface....my deck? not so much.

Glad that everything turned out ok

Grandpas Grub · February 2008

Julie,

Glad you caught it it time.

Our back yard neighbors lots their entire house for the same problem. Charcoal cooker on a wooden deck.

The house had to be completly rebuilt, it took almost 2 years to get through the insurance and rebuild.

Glad you are safe and sound.

Kent

fishlessman · February 2008

been there with the close call, got them eggs off the deck now. its more of a pain to use them, but i feel better about it, glad it was just a close call for you

Little Steven · February 2008

Mainegg,

My house was destroyed nearly a year ago by a fire that started on the deck. It wasn't the eggs but a gasser that I used the side burner on. We are looking at severall more months before the place is finished. Building a cement deck on.

A little caution can save a ton of grief.

Broc · February 2008

I'm glad to see your wife makes you go outside to smoke...

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Keen on Eggin!

~ B

Mainegg · February 2008

WOW scary!! this is the tote I had th lump in you can see that it melted right through. DUH. god how stupid. After I tossed it out the screen door I panicked about the loop lock on the pool. I could just see me trying to explain to my husband that after I could not burn the deck off the house I tried to burn through the pool cover. At least the lump would have been put out

I set the lid on the cover of this tote.

small egg filled with the burning lump from the tote

We are building a Egg hut at the end of the pool this summer. It will NOT have a wood floor!
Julie

Rascal · February 2008

Good grief, Charlie Brown! I'm Eggin' on a concrete lanai, but have done many BBQ cooks in kettles & gassers over the years on wood decks without a disaster. I must add that I have a spiritual guide who somehow manages to keep me out of serious trouble! Thank goodness you're OK ('cept for the finger)! The blessing is, through your submission, you have opened many eyes to the necessary precautions needed when playing with fire & smoke! Thank for your input to the forum!

Rascal

Mainegg · February 2008

All I can think of is that the guardian of the egg blew the smoke to the house so I could smell it. if the wind had been blowing away from the house I might not have smelled the plastic smell soon enough so that, that is all that happened. I still can not believe i put the ash pan on the lid and walked away. stupid.

this is our egg guardian. wisher of good cooks, rare beef and unburnt houses now

Nature Boy · February 2008

Thanks for posting that. Fire is scary.

As you found, it can happen most unexpectedly....but the main thing is that people get to read this stuff, and hopefully take steps to protect themselves from the unexpected. It is very easy to get comfortable as the BGE is a very safe cooker, and we all cook on it so much. It's easy to forget what can happen.

Yes, it was a cooking related adventure that started our fire. An ember tumbled out of a 1/2 inch slit in the bottom vent, and blew 20 feet into the garage....where the fire started. The fire marshall referred to it as a "fluke", and even mentioned the old "mousetrap" game. I had been cooking in the same spot for 8 years, so it was a big surprise. Happens real fast too!!

I have seen many pictures posted here of folks cooking in areas where I would not. It's nice to at least get people thinking whether their own situation is really safe. Glad things are still rosy forya!
Cheers
Chris

Grandpas Grub · February 2008

For general information. I was using my new medium and saw some embers coming out of the tightly closed bottom screen. These were very small but they were glowing and exiting the screen.

hummm... I am thnking I had better check my insurance and get it updated & increased. Just in case.

Kent

Nature Boy · February 2008

I'd hold onto that little fella :-)

Nature Boy · February 2008

Good idea. Those are two things I can advise.
1) Assess your situation, and where your cookers are in relation to your house....or anything else that can catch on fire.
2) Double check your insurance coverage. The price of rebuilding continues to rise, but often our coverage is based on what it would have cost years ago.
3) Videotape all your belongings, and put this in a safe deposit box. Then each Christmas, videotape all your new stuff from that year. If you do this, you probably won't need to use it. If you don't you might wish you had!

Just some thoughts. Glad to hear you are using the screen! It could have prevented our fire.

Best!
Chris

Grandpas Grub · February 2008

Now that is a great idea. I just checked my insurance and I am way under insured, by close to $200k My liability isn't where it should be either.

Thanks, Kent

Fluffyb · February 2008

Julie,

How awful for you! So glad you caught it. We live in the desert, no snow to help put a fire out. But, our deck and home are cement and the yard is rock! After reading Chris' story, I will now be very careful of embers blowing into the house or garage.

Hammer · February 2008

Sorry to hear about your mishap. All will come out, and you are the wiser for it!
Hammer

Rick's Tropical Delight · February 2008

i'm a little cornfused as to how hot ashes got on the ash pan? you shook the charcoal grate and took out the ashes that fell to the bottom of the egg?

Mainegg · February 2008

Yes I was stupid. I had filled the egg with new lump. it was the bottom of the bag and a lot of small stuff. it must have sifted down and plugged the holes in the bottom grate. i used the wiggled stick to shake it down. I have a big black pot lid I use to scrape the ashes into, then it is dumped in to a METAL pot with a tight lid. to be safe. so it goes out. Well I set the lid in the top of the plastic tote cause it was close and i was squatted down and then filled the drip pan with apple juice and checked the drafts and did not take the lid off the tote and put the ash into the pot. it melted through and tipped in to the tote and lit the rest of the lump in the tote. about two hours later I smell plastic burning. YUK

Rick's Tropical Delight · February 2008

glad it wasn't worse. the egg will be fine with ashes in the bottom as long as they are not up to the charcoal grate and there's no need to remove them especially when they are potentially hot. (i'm sure you realize that now, maybe, but i'm saying this for the benefit of newbie lurkers and stuff)

Jeffersonian · February 2008

Whoa. Thank goodness it all ended up well. I've done a couple of absent-minded things like that, too, and wound up with just a smoldering plastic tub.

close call

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