We had a little mishap which I thought I’d share with all of you in an effort to prevent it from happening to you all.
In the past, I would prepare charcoal in the Chimney, and then dump it into my Weber smoker.
This past Sunday, I was doing a lot of smoking and about half way thru, realized I was running low on briquettes, and asked my wife to pick up a bag for me while she was shopping.
She did, but instead of the normal type, she purchased the “easy starting” that do not need lighter fluid, I saw that, but it didn’t faze me since I don’t use fluid anyway.
So, once I used lit the charcoal, I dumped it into the smoker, then wrapped up the remainder of the unused charcoal and placed it in the storage area underneath the grill.
About 40 minutes later, I see a plume of smoke coming from my backyard and the grill was on fire and so was the wall of my garage.
In retrospect, I don’t know if my next response was smart, stupid or just lucky, but knowing that the bar-B-Que was on fire, I opened up the storage area (source of the fire), and knowing the propane tank was now getting burned, I reached in, detached it and tossed it into our swimming pool.
I then proceeded to get the garden hose and put out the fire before the fire department arrived.
What happened was apparently a spark or ember made contact with the bag of easy light charcoal, and since the combustion level is so much less than standard charcoal, it quickly caught on fire, whereas normal charcoal would not have reacted that way.
Just thought I’d share this info to all of you….
In the past, I would prepare charcoal in the Chimney, and then dump it into my Weber smoker.
This past Sunday, I was doing a lot of smoking and about half way thru, realized I was running low on briquettes, and asked my wife to pick up a bag for me while she was shopping.
She did, but instead of the normal type, she purchased the “easy starting” that do not need lighter fluid, I saw that, but it didn’t faze me since I don’t use fluid anyway.
So, once I used lit the charcoal, I dumped it into the smoker, then wrapped up the remainder of the unused charcoal and placed it in the storage area underneath the grill.
About 40 minutes later, I see a plume of smoke coming from my backyard and the grill was on fire and so was the wall of my garage.
In retrospect, I don’t know if my next response was smart, stupid or just lucky, but knowing that the bar-B-Que was on fire, I opened up the storage area (source of the fire), and knowing the propane tank was now getting burned, I reached in, detached it and tossed it into our swimming pool.
I then proceeded to get the garden hose and put out the fire before the fire department arrived.
What happened was apparently a spark or ember made contact with the bag of easy light charcoal, and since the combustion level is so much less than standard charcoal, it quickly caught on fire, whereas normal charcoal would not have reacted that way.
Just thought I’d share this info to all of you….
