BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!

Subject: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 10:28 PM

Suppose your traditional Christmas (yes, CHRISTMAS, not Holiday) Tree caught fire?

Write down how many seconds you think you'd take to put it out.

Then visit the site below and check out the videos there on the burning tannenbaums.

Holy Roasting Chestnuts, Batman!

Could put a real damper on the festivities, non?

And that just the flames. Not mentioning the poisonous fumes, smoke and oxygen depletion...

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Beer
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 10:41 PM

Wow!! Bruce you've gotta see this. Thanks Cluin

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Kaleea
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 10:44 PM

All the more reason to keep an eye out at garage & estate sales for one of those shiny silver aluminum trees popular in the 60's! Don't forget the rotating light that shines on the tree to change the color.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 11:03 PM

Druther burn than put up one of those, Kaleea. Are you thinking of ones that were shaped something like a tree? or of what a neighbor family of ours once had? Theirs was two sheets of aluminum, cut to tree silhouettes, flat except for a little embossing of branches, interlocked in the middle to make a "plus" in cross section. The lights didn't rotate; the tree rotated over the different colored lights. I chewed my tongue bloody to keep from telling them how revolted I was.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 11:12 PM

"Ask Karen," only GOOD!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Peace
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 11:13 PM

Saw it, and wow. I've done entry in two places that were as dark as that due to smoke. As Cluin pointed out, the stuff in the smoke is really nasty--many really toxic gasses come from burning sofas and armchairs. Only chance for people before the FD gets there is to get out by getting low--that is on ones hands and knees--and makin' tracks to an exit. When paint on walls goe alonw with other 'burnables' in the room, the temperature fairly guickly rises above 750 degrees. Unprotected humans aren't made for that kinda heat. The advice the film clip gives is great. Keep the tree watered. Or, better yet, get an artificial tree. Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

Note too that the elapsed time in the clip was less than a minute. The quickest response likely from a FD is in the neighbourhood of 8-10 minutes. By that time, the room is engulfed and getting close to flashover--if flashover hasn't occurred by then. That house is not the place to be.

Great thread, Cluin.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 12:54 AM

I used to fight wildfires with the Forest Service and have seen lots of types and sizes of trees go up. It's amazing how fast they go. Poof!

One summer I spent a couple of weeks laying out a thinning contract in about 200 acres that had been logged 15-20 years earlier. I bashed my way through it doing the stand survey, surveying to draw the map, drawing the map, doing much of the contract work, only to see the fool contractor burn half of it down because one of his workers didn't have a spark arrestor on his chain saw. When I was next out there everything was either burned or had lots of reddish brown smears and dots of borate. It doesn't take much to light those things and they go off like Roman candles.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: mack/misophist
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 10:02 AM

This reminds me of when I was a kid in Japan. A lot of villagers hadn't gotten the idea yet. They used small, free form oriental looking pines. The commonest decorations were small glass samtas and paper cranes. Looked pretty cool to me.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 10:35 AM

A friend of mine tells me that a crucified Santa is a common Christmas icon in Japan. Was he having me on?

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: heric
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 09:28 PM

museumofhoaxes.com refers to that as an urban legend.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 10:44 PM

I knew some people who bought their tree as early as possible and kept it outside, in a bucket of water. That sounds like a good idea to me.

Is it true that the bottoms are sealed and that one should cut a couple inches off before setting it up?

As for myself, I never have a Christmas tree. No room, and I do worry about fire.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 10:51 PM

It seems that over time from being cut to when you buy it the bottom dries and it isn't as apt to let the tree suck in water, so removing an inch or two helps. Unless you have a doofus use a really dull chainsaw and take so long to cut through it that he literally polishes the end with the new cut. I saw it coming (so to speak) but it was too late to stop him from 'helping' me with this service. I had to cut off more when I got home and it never did fit the stand properly that year. That poor tree dried out so fast it was scary. I barely kept it indoors for a week. I put it up a day or two before christmas and it's usually down well before New Year's Eve.

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 07:14 AM

If I'm having a real tree (which is my preference) I buy pot grown trees. Be really careful about getting a rooted tree. Often it has just the bare minimum of root and will die regardless. Look out for roots sticking out of the top of the pot - that's a rootcut tree stuffed into pot, probably too small for it. A good pot grown tree will have moss, grass or other small plants growing in the top of the soil around the trunk. It will not drop needles if you pull a branch through your fingers and should not come out of the pot if you lift it by the trunk. If it does come out of the pot, check to see if the roots look disturbed. If they aren't, you've got a proper pot grown tree and it should last for ages if kept cool and watered well.

We have a tree in our garden that was originally bought as one of those little 12" table trees, covered in flock snow and tacky baubles. Mother carefully picked the flocking off, and now, some 9 years later, its a 3ft tree in a large pot. It isn't the lushest of trees, it has suffered from drought in its time, but it's going to hit double figures this year and that's pretty good going for a Christmas tree.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Grinch has nothing on this!
From: gnu
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 06:15 AM

Worth a refresh.