Fire Safety Warning!

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Do not ever leave a candle unattended, even for a couple moments.

My daughter was bathing this evening and she had a small votive candle burning in a tall secure holder up on the counter, next to the sink. We both grew up around alternative lighting, and have always trimmed wicks, and practiced extreme fire safety, and considered this type of candle safe-ish.

She was in her bath, and I was laying in bed. Suddenly she screamed. I saw the dark walls in the hall reflecting a flickering blood orange. The color of doom. I thought the bathroom was on fire and my daughter trapped inside.

I am a wheelchair user, but I had the strength to run top speed into the bathroom. The candle and the jar had exploded and big orange flames were rising from the jar. They were confined inside the radius of what was left of the jar. Without thinking, within seconds I smothered the flames in baking soda.

After extinguishing the flames, I was so scared I collapsed onto the toilet and my legs were just shivering so wildly in shock literally bouncing and shivering, that it took a minute to calm down before I could stand back up.

Luckily nothing was damaged except a small bit of countertop about the diameter of the candle holder. And my daughter swore no more candles in the bathroom.

My little investigation showed the candle had exploded because some water had gotten dripped onto and around the candle inside the holder. Either dripped from washing hands/ brushing teeth, or from cleaning the bathroom earlier.

Water plus candle wax equals an exploding candle, with fire blasting everywhere. Also water plus a piping hot glass or ceramic container will also cause an explosion. So water caused the big boom.

Do not let water drip into a candle. Nor should you ever put out a candle fire with water.

 

[FayetheAspie]

That sounds terrifying. I am glad you are both ok.

 

[Mary Terry]

You handled that well! I've had something similar happen with a votive on our front porch. Fortunately, I heard and saw the sputtering flame and quickly blew it out. That's why I like battery operated fake candles!

 

[Aspychata]

I didn't know that, yes l prefer the fake candles to help with my anxiety of fires. We sold a house, it burned down, l moved out of an apartment complex, the entire building burned down from a dryer.

 

[tlc]

I’ve also had a glass candle jar shatter not from water, but because the wick was embedded too close to the glass.

Unattended candles are definitely not a good idea. A breeze from an open window or fan can blow something like a scrap of paper into it. Or if you have pets, anything can happen.

 

[AGXStarseed]

Glad you're both okay.

Honestly, the amount of Fire Safety PIFs I've seen has made me really paranoid around fire; the big one been the 1974 advert "Searching" - which plays out like a short horror film.

 

[Judge]

First and foremost if you must, always make sure you are using vegetable-based candles (such as soy), rather than paraffin-based (petroleum) candles. The latter brings a plethora of bad news to most any household, especially if used in a confined airspace near other combustibles.

Always keeping in mind that using anything that produces an unnecessary flame indoors reflects a common hazard in itself. The safest bet ultimately being not to use anything that produces such a flame. (It's what makes cigarettes the most common fire hazard in the eyes of insurers.)

What Gases Do Paraffin Candles Release When Burning? | Wholesale Manufacturer

 

[Mary Terry]

First and foremost if you must, always make sure you are using vegetable-based candles (such as soy), rather than paraffin-based (petroleum) candles. The latter brings a plethora of bad news to most any household, especially if used in a confined airspace near other combustibles.

Always keeping in mind that using anything that produces an unnecessary flame indoors reflects a common hazard in itself. The safest bet ultimately being not to use anything that produces such a flame. (It's what makes cigarettes the most common fire hazard in the eyes of insurers.)

What Gases Do Paraffin Candles Release When Burning? | Wholesale Manufacturer

Candles are air polluters. The only kind of real candle I would consider using is made of beeswax. It burns cleaner than petroleum-based candles. I've used them to decorate the dining table for Christmas dinners, etc., while there are people with eyes on them at all times. That was a long time ago. The "romantic" ambiance of real candles is a non-starter for me these days.

 

[Judge]

The "romantic" ambiance of real candles is a non-starter for me these days.

Agreed. The risk far outweighs any perceived rewards.

 

[oregano]

Near me is the wreckage of somebody's RV. People out here tend to live off grid and out of the range of "civilization" but that carries risk, including the lack of fire suppression services. Cal Fire has a station in Hornbrook proper next to the freeway that is mainly there to protect the town and to help fight any wildland fires that pop up. They also travel to other areas of California and Oregon that may need wildfire backup. I saw one of the Hornbrook engines driving south on the freeway today in fact.

As for the people up in the hills, we're out of luck. People up here generally know this and act accordingly. But there was one guy who lived in a small, dilapidated fifth wheel/gooseneck trailer without electricity or heat or anything. No solar panels, no kerosene tank, nada. Last December I was driving out after two days of being home and saw that the trailer was now ashes, some burnt wood scraps, and the charred metal underframe with melted tires still attached. I'm thinking the guy was using an open flame for heating/cooking/light and left it unattended just long enough.

That's common among the urban homeless, especially in Sacramento, they will try to do stuff like warming a can of beans with a candle. One guy who did that was parked in the City Hall parking garage, which the mayor at the time was using for "safe camping". The fire was right under a vital steel support beam. AFAIK the garage is still boarded up. Open flame is really dangerous, but for most of human history people knew it and acted accordingly.

 

[RemyZee]

Thanks for saying that: I've been putting candles in glass bowls to burn them and they get pretty hot.

 

[Mary Terry]

I didn't know that, yes l prefer the fake candles to help with my anxiety of fires. We sold a house, it burned down, l moved out of an apartment complex, the entire building burned down from a dryer.

I've had two cheap dishwashers catch on fire inside the machines. Both were due to a defective door latching mechanism or so I understood. There I was, smoke coming out of the dishwasher, holding the fire extinguisher and realizing that spraying fire retardant on the outside of the dishwasher would not help. This is why I never leave appliances like dishwashers, washer and dryers, electric heaters, etc. running unless I am home.