A little fun with Fire and Ice.

alarionov · Jan 13, 2009

Thats Awesome! Whats the source of the fire?

Mgw189 · Jan 13, 2009

alarionov said:
Thats Awesome! Whats the source of the fire?

The source of the fire was a piece of paper towel soaked in charcoal lighter fluid. Black fabric with a piece of plexiglass under the glass and LED lights to the rear and sides provided the blue lighting.

bww77 · Jan 13, 2009

that is really cool looking.

Derek Zoolander · Jan 13, 2009

Is the paper towel laying on top of the ice? If not, maybe try it with the paper towel somewhere in the middle so you can hopefully catch some flames coming from within and between the ice cubes.

Mgw189 · Jan 13, 2009

Derek Zoolander said:
Is the paper towel laying on top of the ice? If not, maybe try it with the paper towel somewhere in the middle so you can hopefully catch some flames coming from within and between the ice cubes.

Yes it is sitting on the ice with the ice built up around it. I did try it in the ice however I could not get it to light/stay lit.

AlexColeman · Jan 13, 2009

Very nice, but you may want to photoshop the hot pixel.

Mgw189 · Jan 13, 2009

AlexColeman said:
Very nice, but you may want to photoshop the hot pixel.

DOH never noticed that.

stsinner · Jan 13, 2009

I'd use alcohol so that there's no nasty black ashes from the paper towel.. Just get some Bacardi 151, drink half of it, then pour some over the ice and light it.. You should get some awesome shots half in the bag and with some luck you won't burn your house down..

But seriously, try alcohol.. Sometimes the flame is invisible, though, but it's worth a shot..

Mgw189 · Jan 13, 2009

stsinner said:
I'd use alcohol so that there's no nasty black ashes from the paper towel.. Just get some Bacardi 151, drink half of it, then pour some over the ice and light it.. You should get some awesome shots half in the bag and with some luck you won't burn your house down..

But seriously, try alcohol.. Sometimes the flame is invisible, though, but it's worth a shot..

not worried about the whole "burning the house down" thing.

Thats me turning my air on in the yellow helmet.

And as far as Alcohol goes I would NEVER waste 151 even for photography sake :lmao: Rubbing alcohol burns clear. The lighter fluid worked quite well.

ShutterSpeed · Jan 13, 2009

thats a great shot!

very creative and great use of lighting

stsinner · Jan 14, 2009

Mgw189 said:
not worried about the whole "burning the house down" thing.

Thats me turning my air on in the yellow helmet.

And as far as Alcohol goes I would NEVER waste 151 even for photography sake :lmao: Rubbing alcohol burns clear. The lighter fluid worked quite well.

Cool.. You're lucky-you're not too fat to turn on your own air, like some of us..

What were you guys doing at that fire-trying to save the foundation.. LOL.. That was a hot one, and obviously a total loss.

Here I am at a 2-alarm fire in my town, as well as my avatar being me at a car fire..

Mgw189 · Jan 14, 2009

stsinner said:
Cool.. You're lucky-you're not too fat to turn on your own air, like some of us..

What were you guys doing at that fire-trying to save the foundation.. LOL.. That was a hot one, and obviously a total loss.

Here I am at a 2-alarm fire in my town, as well as my avatar being me at a car fire..

LOL ummm lets see.... that fire well ummm here is a pic of what we saw as we pulled on scene.....

There were probably better than 12 departments working this fire. Including the paid city department seen in this pic. The fire was started by a mechanic trying to loosen a bolt with a torch near the gas tank. We got on scene and were the only ones who thought to put on air packs. The cars in the very front of the lot there had melted tail light lenses by the time we left. The house next door to the building to the left which you cant see in this image also burnt and a third building beyond the house started getting hot enough to melt the rubber roof. The header could be seen almost 30 miles away. They also stored their used motor oil out back in 55 gallon drums which decided to blow about the time we relieved the guys on the hand line in the back of the building. The garage specialized in VWs' and had a few older models with the magnesium engine blocks. The fire burnt sooo hot that it actually heated the hydraulic cylinders of the car lifts to the point were they bent enough to drop a car off of one of them.

Saddlebreds4me · Jan 14, 2009

Great shots everyone! I love the fire scene photos - I used to sell fire apparatus, been to a few working fires in my day (though never on a dept) It was such a rush!

stsinner · Jan 14, 2009

Mgw189 said:
They also stored their used motor oil out back in 55 gallon drums which decided to blow about the time we relieved the guys on the hand line in the back of the building. The garage specialized in VWs' and had a few older models with the magnesium engine blocks. The fire burnt sooo hot that it actually heated the hydraulic cylinders of the car lifts to the point were they bent enough to drop a car off of one of them.

Wow.. What a shame.. A bunch of nice cars lost, but you didn't mention any victims, so that's good.

That's Blitzfire and deck gun time, screw the hand lines!! We have this little device you may have seen called the water wall that fans water up in a solid wall.. The hose and apparatus just lies on the ground and it's designed for preventing extension to surrounding buildings. That looks like it may have over-powered it, though.. It cools the wall of the untouched exposed neighbor.

With us it's standard procedure to pack up when you roll up to a fire.. Firefighters aren't immune to smoke inhalation, and it doesn't take much. I think you guys did the right thing..

We had a house fire one time where I was sitting on a Chicago Loop with a 2 1/2" fog nozzle, and we had water supply problems.. Nothing is more frustrating than a fully-involved structure fire and your line goes limp.. We were doing the water shuttle into the portable pond, and it was slow going.. We had the opportunity to save the entire house and contain the fire to the attached garaged, but the water shortage resulted in a total loss of the house and the garage.. Imagine sitting there watching a house with no fire yet have fire spread to it and burn to the ground with you watching with a fire hose in your hand.. That was frustrating.