Van fire (well almost)…….B&Q not helpful.

[ian]

First thing this morning I needed to nip into B&Q to buy a tape measure. When I returned to the van, opened the back door it was full of smoke. My first thought “was to save what you can” so out came my tester, tools, drills, laser level, certificate and invoice books. Eventually, I pulled out the dustsheet, which was smouldering away and was the source of the smoke. I tried stamping on to, but it didn’t help, so I ran into B&Q and asked if I could have a fire extinguisher. The answer was no “1 will need to ask the manager”…..then after a tannoy announcement and a phone call I was told no, they are for in store use only, and it’s a council car park. So I asked for a bucket of water…..yep the buckets are over there and they are 99p. After what seemed an age I filled the bucket with water, and ran out to the van, being followed by 2 members of staff saying “you have not paid for the bucket”….which was true.

Anyway, when I returned to my van, some kind soul had extinguished the fire with a four, two litre bottle of water he had in his car.

So the motto, of this story, is always carry and fire extinguisher and if you are ever going to set a dustsheet on fire, don’t do it in B&Q.

What’s really, strange is the dust sheet, had not been out of the van in a couple of days and that was the first time I had been in the back of the van that morning. So how the hell did it catch fire?

[FONT=&quot]Ian [/FONT]

 

[Gravid]

That'll teach you not to flick ciggie ends out your window !!

 

[PC Electrics]

The lesson, as I see it, would be to eject whatever is on fire onto the tarmac and just let it burn (unless it's valuable). I wouldn't waste a fire extinguisher on a dust sheet.

 

[imago]

Any oils on it? Linseed for example can self ignite if on a cotton cloth. Other oils when combined with some solvents, most oils will react with oxygen.

As an aside, it's well worth having a fire extinguisher in the van anyway.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Not been had a van for a year or so but I though commercial vehicles had to have fire extinguisher, first aid kit and also a triangle, but maybe wrong there

 

[electromonkey]

You should go back to that B&Q tomorrow and do the old dog turd in a flaming brown bag and put it in their main entrance. That'll learn them.

 

[dim_bulb]

is your van ok?

they arent real people theyre robots who work there, real people would help a fellow man

probably a jealous screwfix or wicks member how started the fire :24:

 

[Marvo]

.......I ran into B&Q and asked if I could have a fire extinguisher. The answer was no “1 will need to ask the manager”…..then after a tannoy announcement and a phone call I was told no, they are for in store use only,

I think you're first mistake was being way too polite asking to use a fire extinguisher in the first place. I would have dumped the smoldering sheet at the checkout and asked if it qualified for a fire extinguisher now.

 

[Knobhead]

A quick note to B&Q’s head office addressed to the H&S manager would seem in order.

I witnessed a car fire at Nottingham’s ASDA store and the story couldn’t be more different, an assistant came dashing out the store with a CO2, stopped the driver from opening the bonnet (a mistake a lot of people make) he then used the CO2 through the radiator grill. I’d grabbed the extinguisher from my car and ran over but it was all over by then.

So thumbs down for B&Q, up for ASDA