Guest Peter James Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Motorhome destroyed in West Felton blaze - link http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/12/01/motorhome-destroyed-in-west-felton-blaze/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hmmm.....Another DIY enthusiast I see *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra rob Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-12-03 10:24 AMHmmm.....Another DIY enthusiast I see *-) Hmmm I Feel for the chap and his wife, they must be gutted. Glad the Chaps fine.As for DIY, I don' think its right to judge anyone or anything unless knowing all the facts. Even skilled people make mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-12-03 10:24 AM Hmmm.....Another DIY enthusiast I see *-) A bit presumtious, how do you know he wasn't an auto electrician? Accidents can happen to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Whatever...Lucky he did not lose the house as well. I know the type well, they appear before me all the time......Pity as I could have prevented this with a good flogging! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Apparently he had just returned from having a habitation check and a full service. He is also the head of a large electrical contracting business and time served electrician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 1footinthegrave - 2011-12-03 3:03 PM Apparently he had just returned from having a habitation check and a full service. He is also the head of a large electrical contracting business and time served electrician. There you go then....Even worse a no it all! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Interesting piece in Fred Dibnah's biography. The only time this professional steeplejack was seriously injured was when he got up on a stepladder in a bedroom to fix a light. He fell off and put himself in hospital for 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Peter James - 2011-12-03 4:37 PM Interesting piece in Fred Dibnah's biography. The only time this professional steeplejack was seriously injured was when he got up on a stepladder in a bedroom to fix a light. He fell off and put himself in hospital for 2 weeks. Dear Freddy boy.......What has been left out of autobiography was that at the time he was wearing a pink rubber suit and full gimp mask so could not see what he was doing anyway!........Thats what you get for not completing a thorough risk assessment *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-12-03 5:13 PM Peter James - 2011-12-03 4:37 PM Interesting piece in Fred Dibnah's biography. The only time this professional steeplejack was seriously injured was when he got up on a stepladder in a bedroom to fix a light. He fell off and put himself in hospital for 2 weeks. Dear Freddy boy.......What has been left out of autobiography was that at the time he was wearing a pink rubber suit and full gimp mask so could not see what he was doing anyway!........Thats what you get for not completing a thorough risk assessment *-) .... there are times when you shouldn't say something even in jest about some people, and this is one of them I'm afraid. Fred was a real character and sorely missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Peter James - 2011-12-03 4:37 PM Interesting piece in Fred Dibnah's biography. The only time this professional steeplejack was seriously injured was when he got up on a stepladder in a bedroom to fix a light. He fell off and put himself in hospital for 2 weeks. Reminds me of a colleague who used to go skydiving as a hobby without injury, but coming down a ladder he stepped off the 2nd rung thinking he'd reached the bottom and went 'crunch' and broke both his ankles! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolly1965 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Mel B - 2011-12-03 5:37 PM JudgeMental - 2011-12-03 5:13 PM Peter James - 2011-12-03 4:37 PM Interesting piece in Fred Dibnah's biography. The only time this professional steeplejack was seriously injured was when he got up on a stepladder in a bedroom to fix a light. He fell off and put himself in hospital for 2 weeks. Dear Freddy boy.......What has been left out of autobiography was that at the time he was wearing a pink rubber suit and full gimp mask so could not see what he was doing anyway!........Thats what you get for not completing a thorough risk assessment *-) .... there are times when you shouldn't say something even in jest about some people, and this is one of them I'm afraid. Fred was a real character and sorely missed. Having met Fred several times - yes he was a real character - but I'm sure he'd have laughed his old cap off at the the pink rubber suit and gimp mask joke - 'D'ya like that?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-12-03 10:24 AM Hmmm.....Another DIY enthusiast I see *-) Difficult to tell from a pile of ashes. That said indeed if it is, i've seen a number of 'home builds' which would put many factory build m/h's to shame. This kind of accident could happen to ANY mh/camper irrespective of build cost. Seen a few burnt out expensive factory builds. Lots of lovely plastic and wood means once fire takes hold they turn into an inferno in a matter of seconds. That there is often bottled gas onboard makes it a ticking bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 My FIL built his own stealth camper on a Merc, not that they were called that in those days;-)...........he just wanted to be able to park up in town squares abroad and not attract attention:D.......and being a ex cabinet maker it was stunning inside, and I was gobsmacked when he sold it to buy ours8-).............If as 1foot said it had just had its habitation test done........maybe its not his fault.............but then again 1foot said he was the boss of a large electric firm, so judging by his property he's either not doing very well or is recently divorced:-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Whatever the cause of the fire, I notice that no mention was made in the Shropshire Star article of an extinguisher being used by the motorhome owner to try to put it out... In the November 2011 issue of the French motorhome magazine "Camping-Car" there was a reader's letter asking whether the fire-extinguisher in his 2005 motorhome needed to be regularly replaced. The editorial reply was "No", but it was also advised that all motorhomes (presumably that means all French-registered motorhomes), new or secondhand, were legally required to carry a dry-powder extinguisher of at least 2kg capacity. A small-capacity extinguisher won't handle a major vehicle fire, but most major fires start out small. A 2kg dry-powder extinguisher can be obtained for £15 or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 pelmetman - 2011-12-03 10:10 PM " judging by his property he's either not doing very well or is recently divorced:-S " .... or he is not impressed by big houses and invested his money in something else ? 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Derek Uzzell - 2011-12-04 8:56 AM Whatever the cause of the fire, I notice that no mention was made in the Shropshire Star article of an extinguisher being used by the motorhome owner to try to put it out... In the November 2011 issue of the French motorhome magazine "Camping-Car" there was a reader's letter asking whether the fire-extinguisher in his 2005 motorhome needed to be regularly replaced. The editorial reply was "No", but it was also advised that all motorhomes (presumably that means all French-registered motorhomes), new or secondhand, were legally required to carry a dry-powder extinguisher of at least 2kg capacity. A small-capacity extinguisher won't handle a major vehicle fire, but most major fires start out small. A 2kg dry-powder extinguisher can be obtained for £15 or less. If the cause of the fire was an electical fault and possibly the the cabling itself caught fire, it would be very difficult to put it out as it would spread along the wire itself, would it not? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Taking into consideration what has been said on here only the guy himself could have made an appraisal of the situation and self preservation might have been foremost on his mind. Being involved with ADR Roadtankers and the highly inflamable bulk liquid loads that are carried I went on numerous courses to keep familiarised with safety and the main thought that was ever present was self preservation. You are long dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Mel B - 2011-12-06 6:58 PM Derek Uzzell - 2011-12-04 8:56 AM Whatever the cause of the fire, I notice that no mention was made in the Shropshire Star article of an extinguisher being used by the motorhome owner to try to put it out... In the November 2011 issue of the French motorhome magazine "Camping-Car" there was a reader's letter asking whether the fire-extinguisher in his 2005 motorhome needed to be regularly replaced. The editorial reply was "No", but it was also advised that all motorhomes (presumably that means all French-registered motorhomes), new or secondhand, were legally required to carry a dry-powder extinguisher of at least 2kg capacity. A small-capacity extinguisher won't handle a major vehicle fire, but most major fires start out small. A 2kg dry-powder extinguisher can be obtained for £15 or less. If the cause of the fire was an electical fault and possibly the the cabling itself caught fire, it would be very difficult to put it out as it would spread along the wire itself, would it not? :-S The Shropshire Star newspaper article just said: “He was working on the electrics of the motorhome when the fire broke out." It did not say that the cause of the fire was the electrical work Mr Penhale was carrying out on the vehicle (though it's not unreasonable to suspect this was the cause). I did say at the beginning of my posting "Whatever the cause of the fire..." and I fully accept that an electrical fire in an inaccessible position (like in a enclosed cable-run) may prove impossible to put out with the type/size of extinguisher likely to be carried in a motorhome. As rolandrat says, it will be up to the individual to decide priorities. (There's an old joke about a man being interviewed for a job driving a petrol-tanker and being asked what steps he would take if his vehicle caught fire. His reply was "Long and often ones") But, if no extinguisher is available, there will also be no choice available regarding whether or not to attempt to fight a vehicle fire. It may well be that Mr Penhale had an extinguisher, but the fire was so sudden and intense that he decided it wasn't worth trying to attack the blaze and chose to prioritise on moving other vehicles and gas cylinders instead. Or that he used an extinguisher, but it was inadequate. The Shropshire Star article is short and, even if an extinguisher had been involved, there's no particular reason to assume that this would have been reported. If there is to be a simple-to-follow moral to Peter James' original posting, I suggest that the moral is that it's good policy to carry a sensibly-sized extinguisher in a motorhome. And - completely off topic - I thought you might enjoy this peculiarly-headlined piece of reporting: http://www.examiner.com/rving-in-national/chausson-motorhome-the-rv-of-choice-for-neo-nazis-murderers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Flipping heck Derek, where on earth did you find that! At least it's on a Fiat ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Derek Uzzell - 2011-12-07 8:38 AM http://www.examiner.com/rving-in-national/chausson-motorhome-the-rv-of-choice-for-neo-nazis-murderers That has to be one of the best yet, Derek. :-D Mel, I think you should substitute the headline for your current "sig". It might make people think twice before "taking you on". :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 ... somehow I don't think I want to be associated with Neo-Nazis ... can't think why!!! 8-) *-) Now, I could instead join forces with the Sheriff of Nottingham and go looking for someone in a green tunic with tights on and a funny hat, who's likely to do himself damage with his bow and arrow, unless of course you have the arrows with the rubber suckers on the end! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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