Fire!We were all in my aunt's kitchen at the back of her huge rambling Victorian house. I was only small and had wandered off to go to the loo, but given up after finding the hall full of smoke. "That was quick," my mum said after a few minutes. "Yes - it's all smoky," I replied.
I've never seen adults move so fast.
So, like my cousin who'd managed to set fire to the roof, tell us your fire stories.
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chthonic, Thu 3 Nov 2005, 9:11)
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Fire breathing - safer than you think*I'm a juggler in my spare time, and have had all sorts of fun with fire clubs, fire poi, fire staff etc. In fact, there are very few juggling-type activities which can't be made more spectacular by setting fire to them.*
At one point, I decided that the (very real) dangers of fire breathing didn't bother me, and got a well-practiced mate to teach me how*. That evening saw me standing with a mouthful of fuel, a flaming torch in one hand, and a fireblanket in the other. I lifted the torch to my mouth, and in an almighty "Thhphbbppbppbttt" sent the fuel in a fine mist through the flame.
...which went out with a disappointing "fsst". This left me as the most surprised and foolish-looking firebreather in history, much to the delight of my friends and other onlookers who I'd warned to "stand back! This'll be huge and very dangerous". To this day I haven't worked out how I used a mouthful of fuel to extinguish a torch which is normally damn near impossible to put out without a wet fire blanket.
Moral of the story: small, household fires can be safely extinguished by gobbing mouthfulls of whatever flammable liquids you have to hand. Probably.*
*No, it really isn't safe at all. It's a stupid and dangerous thing to do, so don't try it. Problems include dermatitis, chemical pneumonia, poisoning, serious external and internal burns, death and social ostricism due to frequent fuel-flavoured burps for days afterwards.
(, Sat 5 Nov 2005, 17:17, Reply)
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