October 12, 2023 • 28 mins
In this deeply emotional episode, Stuart takes us on a journey through one of the most challenging experiences of his RV life. A fire that not only tested his resolve but reshaped his perspective. Dive in as he recounts the harrowing moments, the split-second decisions, and the profound lessons learned as he helped a family as their trailer burned to the ground.
Key Points:
- The Day of the Fire: Stuart paints a vivid picture of the day, from the first whiff of smoke to the roaring flames. What went through his mind? How did he react?
- Decisions in the Heat of the Moment: Faced with a rapidly escalating situation, Stuart had to make choices that would impact not just his RV, but that of those who lived in the RV and those close to it. Discover the thought process behind these crucial decisions.
- Life After the Blaze: The fire left more than just physical scars. Stuart delves into the emotional aftermath and the changes he's made since that fateful day.
Engage with Us:
Have you faced a similar challenge on your RV journey? Or perhaps you have thoughts on Stuart's experience? We'd love to hear from you. Share your stories, insights, and reflections on our RV Dreaming Facebook page. Let's build a community where we learn, grow, and support each other.
…
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Affiliate Links From The Podcast:
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Reach Out! Stuart@RVDreaming.tv
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stuart Doing Stuff (00:00):
A fire broke out in a trailer just a few spots down from me.
This is what happened, and what I did, andwhat I learned during this chaotic time.
Welcome to the RV Dreaming Podcast.
Welcome to RV Dreaming.
In this podcast, we help youprepare for life on the road.
Whether you're in an RV, van, or inthe back of your car, we teach you how
(00:20):
to get on the road and how to surviveyour first year as a full time nomad.
RV Dreaming.
Start here.
Go anywhere.
How you doing, everyone?
My name is Stuart from StuartDoing Stuff on Instagram.
I've been a nomad since 2020, and Isplit my time between my 40 foot Super
CR V and my 24 foot Sprinter van.
I travel with my two cats, Camdenand Izzy, and you can follow
(00:40):
me on Instagram at Stuart DoingStuff for more stories and videos.
So today we're going to talk aboutsomething that I think if you ask any
rv or what is your worst fear beingon the road Fire breaking out in your
rv and just totally taking it overis going to be the number one Answer
(01:03):
you're going to get I think no matterhow brave somebody is fire is just
something that still terrifies everybodybecause you just can't control it.
A lot of times you can't predictit and a lot of times it happens
so fast you don't even know thatit happened and that's exactly.
The experience I had when I was stayingat a campground in Las Vegas, I was
(01:25):
sitting down to record a podcast, andall of a sudden, I had my windows open,
and all of a sudden I started smellingsmoke, like campfire smoke, like, you
know, the smell of things burning.
different than other smells.
And my first thought was,Whoa, wait, what is that smell?
It's really strong.
So my first thing is fortunately I'm in avan so I can just look left, look right.
(01:45):
And I can see that there'snothing in my rig that's burning.
That was my first thing that Ipopped my head out my back window.
And I looked at my, , you know,the pedestal where you plug in
your power because I thought, well,maybe that might be something.
So I looked at that and that was fine.
And then I kind of dismissed it.
I kind of went, well, maybe someone just.
Starting a campfire and they're, youknow, I'm in a campground, there's
a lot of kids, it's a weekend.
But then I realized, duh, I'min like freaking Las Vegas.
(02:05):
It's 90 something degrees outoutside in the middle of the day.
No one, no one is startinga campfire right now.
And so I was like, wait, what's going on?
So I kind of took my head and I lookedaround my other window and that's when
I saw it., There is a trailer that wasabout five or six spaces down from me
and the back part was just flaming.
(02:26):
You could see smoke coming outof the front door, you could see
smoke coming out of the windows,and at that point, I could see...
Flames as well some orange, you knowkind of flame so I threw my headphones
off because I was recording the podcastand I put some shoes on and I ran over
to where the Trailer was to see if therewas anybody inside and as I got really
close, I'm talking maybe about 10 feetfrom the trailer I saw this little
(02:48):
girl and she was just standing there.
She was all alone and she wasn't Doinganything she was just standing there like
frozen and I grabbed her and I talkedto her and I said hey Hey, little girl.
Is this your trailer?
Do you do you live here?
And she goes?
Yes.
I was like, well, where'syour mommy and your daddy?
She goes, I don't know and I said, well,do you have any brothers or sisters inside
(03:09):
and she goes no and I said, okay Well,why don't why don't you just come with me?
And so I grabbed her and I grabbedher hand and then I walked her back
behind my rig and there were someother people That were gathering so I
found a family that had something andand I said this this is a girl that
lives in the trailer Can you watch her?
While I go back and they'relike, yeah, we'll watch her.
(03:29):
We'll keep her safe.
So I went back over there to look.
And by now the fire is even moreengulfed and it's even hotter.
So I was like, okay, I got togo get my fire extinguisher.
I, and I thought at this point, and we'remaybe less than a minute into the fire.
We're maybe like 30, 45 secondsfrom the time that I started
smelling smoke to this point.
Okay.
So I ran back to my van and I wentto go get my fire extinguisher.
(03:50):
I knew exactly, I knewexactly where this thing was.
It's right behind my passengerseat, right by the sliding door.
Easy to get to.
I ran back to my van, I opened the slidingglass door, or the sliding door, and I
went to go get the fire extinguisher.
But here's the problem.
Behind my seat, I happened to havea lot of crap in my van at the time,
so my fire extinguisher was buried.
(04:12):
So for me to be able to get to that fireextinguisher, I had tomove my toolbox...
There was a case of soda thatwas sitting in the back there.
There was some other dirty clothesthat was just kind of piling
up in that corner over there.
I had to move all this stuff,and then I got to the fire
extinguisher, but it was stuck.
I couldn't get the clip.
The clip was broken.
It wasn't...
(04:33):
I wasn't able to get it off right away.
I had to break the clip to beable to get the fire extinguisher
off of the back of the wall.
That process of moving all that stuffand getting that fire extinguisher
probably was another 20 to 25 seconds.
And by the time I grabbed that thing andI turned around and I started heading
back to the trailer that was on fire...
It was completely engulfed.
(04:55):
There were flames comingout of the front door.
The smell of that smokewas just so overwhelming.
The heat was gettingstronger and stronger.
And just as I start getting overthere and I'm there, I realized
my little fire extinguisher is notgoing to do anything at this point.
It could have started, it couldhave helped at the beginning.
But now this thing is, is all gone.
There's no way that I can do anything.
(05:17):
And just as I was having that kind ofrevelation, coming around the backside, so
this would have been the driver's side ofthe trailer, um, I saw the mom, and mom's
screaming and yelling, Where's my baby?
Where's my baby?
So I grabbed her, I grabbed themom, and said, She's over there,
we got her safe, she's okay.
So the mom ran over tothe kid and was okay.
And dad was over there hooking up a gardenhose on the driver's side of the trailer.
(05:38):
He was taking one of thosegarden hoses and trying to
get, and that also did nothing.
That was...
A futile, it was a nice try, but it, it,it, it, it, it made no difference at all.
This thing was engulfed.
And what made it worse is even afterthe fire started and it started coming
out of the roof, they were parked undera tree and then that tree caught fire
(05:59):
and that thing just started whoosh.
I mean, we're talking Vegas,you know, so it was dry.
It was hot.
And that, when that tree caughtfire, that's when I think a
lot of panic from some of theother camps started setting in.
People were starting to move their rigs.
Cars were starting to get pulled away.
We were trying to create a path for thefire trucks, which had still not arrived.
(06:21):
And it was, um, it got...
Really, really, reallyintense, really fast.
We're talking, this was only twominutes into this, I would say,
that all this started happening.
So then, we had to kind of take a stepback and go, Listen, we're not going
to be able to get anything in there.
So we're looking at the situation.
It was a trailer, it was probablyabout 30 feet, maybe 28 feet longer.
(06:43):
So it was an older one.
And then right in front,there were two cars.
There's an SUV and asedan car that was parked.
And I asked the wife, I said,do you guys have propane?
She goes, yes, the tanks are in the front.
And so fortunately right now,the fire is still contained to
the back and it's moving forward.
And my thing is fire gets to the front.
You got propane, you got cars, yougot gas tanks, you got all this stuff.
(07:05):
And people were just kind of standingaround watching and recording.
And I said.
Do you have your car keys?
Can we move your cars?
And she goes, no, they're inside,they're inside, we can't do it.
I said, are your cars unlocked?
Maybe we can run and grab one ofthe cars, put it in a neutral,
and push it out of the way.
And she goes, I don't knowif it's locked or not.
(07:25):
And so there was another dude thatwas just sitting there, or standing
there next to me, you know, probablylike two or three people away from me.
And I said, can you help me?
You want to go and push this car?
And the dude just kind of goes, nah.
He's like, nah, I'm good, man.
So I'm like, alright, well,I can't do this on my own.
And there's no one else that's able to,everyone else is moving their own stuff.
You know, people are breaking downtheir cars, people are breaking
(07:48):
down their camps and moving.
Because we were afraid at that time,with that tree going up, that it
was going to catch the other treesand it was going to travel around.
So I'm looking around, and justkind of looking, and I go, these
people are right across the street.
And they're in one of those...
Big huge fifth wheels one of those bigones and they they're carrying those,
you know They're towing with this bigDodge Ram dually trucks or whatever.
(08:09):
They they weren't even outside I knewthey were home because their trucks
were outside, but they weren't outsidewatching I was like, I wonder if they
even know what's going on three spacesdown from them So I went over and I
banged on their door and I said heyand the door and it's all hey, man
You might need to move your, you mightwant to move your truck, just in case.
And the guy's all, whatare you talking about?
He comes around, he's like, holy crap.
(08:30):
And he grabs his keys,and he moves his truck.
He had no idea any of this was going on.
So as soon as he moved his truckout of the way, he grabbed his
garden hose, and then he startedhosing down the roof of his...
fifth wheel because it by this time itwas raining ash that tree was totally
engulfed in flames and ash and littlebits of Things were coming down on us
(08:50):
that could have easily Although unlikelycould have started another little fire
So he gets up onto onto the roof ofhis fifth wheel with his hose And just
starts hosing everything down and kindof all the stuff that's around and
around this time The first fire truckgot there, and it's a fire medic it's a
fire truck, but it was like an ambulance.
It was one of those tinier paramedic,uh, things, but they were fire.
(09:13):
They were able to get this.
The guy asked me, , if I knewwhere the fire hydrant was,
and I said, I I have no idea.
I've never come to think of it.
I don't think I've everseen a fire hydrant.
Inside of a campground and maybe youhave but I haven't but he goes do you
know where I can find a fire hydrantbecause this is the truck again.
It's an ambulance, but it's afirefighting capability truck, but
(09:35):
they don't have their own water so.
I don't, they, I don't, I don't rememberwhat they or did or what they didn't do.
I don't remember because I said,hey, the wife is over here.
She's complaining of chest problems.
She's lying on the ground.
That's why I went to ask ifyou were a medic or whatever.
So, , just after that short amount oftime, then the next fire truck comes
in here and then more and more and moreand all of a sudden Calvary is here.
(09:56):
So they put out the rig fire, they putout the tree fire, they put out all the...
All the stuff they tend to the wife theythey go through this and then during the
time where the fire truck started arrivingis when the Campground management started
showing up on their golf carts and stuff.
I guess nobody really informed themor they didn't know Uh, because the
campground office is way on the otherside But I bet you once the fire trucks
(10:18):
and the ambulances and all that otherstuff starts rolling through their park,
you know They're gonna they're gonna knowthat they're gonna get picked up on that.
So that was it.
They got there They put outthe fire Everyone was safe, but
the trailer was a total wreck.
The firefighters were able to get it sothat it burned from the back to the front.
(10:39):
And about 80 percent of it wastotally destroyed and then it was
just getting to the front part beforethe fire was able to be put out.
So, the good thing is the twovehicles that were there...
They, they were fine.
They didn't get hurt at all.
The propane tanks were fine.
The front cap of thetravel trailer was fine.
I mean, smoke damage, water damage,all that, but it didn't burn.
(11:01):
It wasn't like, you know, things.
So, so that was thatmoment in all of this.
Was in the span of,like, under 10 minutes.
This happened so fast, youdidn't even have time to really
comprehend what was going on.
And, and I think that was the thing,and now that I've had a chance to kind
(11:22):
of stop and think about it and replayit over again in my head, and, and
to say, what did I learn from this?
Or what, What could I have done better?
What could people aroundme have done better?
What could the people who livedin that trailer have done better?
You know, I started kind ofthinking about this and going, Am
I really prepared for an emergency?
Or am I as prepared for anemergency as What I thought I
(11:45):
would be, and I think that was kindof got me really, really going.
So after the everything settled, Istarted talking to the wife again.
I didn't talk to the husband.
He was, but I said, What happened?
And she said that she was watching TV.
They were all watching football.
It's a Sunday afternoon.
They were watching football.
And the husband said, Yousmell something burning.
And she goes, yeah, so he got up offthe sofa and went to the back of the
(12:09):
trailer where their bathroom is andhe opened the door and as soon as he
opened the door, that's when whoosh,a huge fireball just overtook the
entire trailer and they were gone.
The, the mom, dad, and the kid,they just, they just ran out.
That was, and they couldn't,and they never went back in.
It was that fast of a moment wherethat fireball comes in and whoosh, that
(12:30):
overwhelming heat inside that trailergoes, oh crap, and then they were gone.
They were out of the thing.
They didn't have shoeson, didn't have jackets.
They didn't have anything, butliterally the clothes on their back.
And that's how I found the littlegirls just standing right there by
the trailer with, you know, barefootand, and her little, you know, Sunday
pajama things, watching the game.
That was.
That was all they had after thiswas over, and it, and it happened
(12:53):
all in just a matter of seconds.
And that was, it's just eventhinking about it now, on how
fast everything just took place.
You've really got to ask yourself,are you, are you really prepared?
So, as I kind of go through this inmy head, and I'm like, well, what
did I hear and what did I not hear?
What did I learn?
What could I have done better?
(13:13):
I, a couple things, okay?
When I look back on it, if I saw the fire,which I did, if I had grabbed my fire
extinguisher right away and headed over tothe trailer, it was small enough to where
maybe, maybe my tiny extinguisher or maybeone or two other fire, tiny extinguishers
could have gotten the fire out, butmy first thought was Is there anybody
(13:35):
inside, which is why I took off frommy van and went straight to the trailer
is to see if anyone needed help gettingout, you know, it's an older trailer.
You don't know ifthey're seniors in there.
You don't know if there'ssomebody with mobility issues.
You don't know if there's,you know, whatever.
So my first thought wasn't grab thefire extinguisher, put out the fire.
My first thought was, let's get overthere and see if anybody needs to get out,
(13:57):
see if anybody needs help getting out.
That was where my first thought was, sothat's why I ran over there and I found
the girl and we moved her to the side.
That's why I had to come back to the vanto get the fire extinguisher, because
now that I knew everyone was out andeveryone was away from the fire, then it
was like, okay, let's put the fire out.
Now, was that the right call?
I don't know.
You, you tell me, because I couldhave grabbed my fire extinguisher,
(14:20):
and headed straight over, butmy, that wasn't my first thought.
My first thought was.
Is there anybody insidethey need to get out?
And then I, I think even mythought may have been, the
fire's not that big right now.
I can get in there and helpsomebody get out if they need it.
And somebody else can help with the fire.
I don't, I don't, I don't exactlyremember the, all the thoughts
(14:42):
that were going through my head.
I just remember, if there's someonein there, they need to get out.
And that was, that waswhere my mindset went first.
Not, put out the fire.
It was, get people out.
So, I noticed that.
As I started processing things more,another thing I didn't no another
thing that I noticed that I didn'tnotice at the time, if that makes
(15:04):
sense, is I didn't hear a fire alarm.
Normally, in a trailer withall that smoke, you'd be
hearing a fire alarm go off.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, and I didn't hear that.
Like, I was cooking one day in my van,um, with the air fryer, and the air
fryer set off my fire alarm on my van,and I had somebody from my neighbors
come over and knock on my van justto make sure everything was okay.
(15:25):
So, these things are loud, and whenyou're, you're, when you're tucked
in as tight as you are, especiallyat this campground that I was at
in Las Vegas, you know, you canhear your neighbor's television
if they have their windows open.
You can hear them screamingand yelling and fighting.
You can hear a fire alarm, youknow, and I didn't, now that
I think about it, I didn't.
I didn't hear a fire alarm, so iteither melted, which is possible,
(15:46):
but I don't remember hearing one atall, uh, during this entire time.
Another thing that, , I didn't, Idon't, I didn't ever even thought about
until I said, Can we move your car?
Do you have your keys?
You know, they're just lounging around,and they didn't have their keys to,
to move the vehicles in that event.
Their, their instinct was get out,and they didn't grab anything.
(16:06):
They didn't grab their wallet,they didn't grab their car keys,
they didn't grab their cell phones.
Didn't grab anything.
Instinct just kicked in and said, I'm out.
So, this tells me that, like, if you'retrying to, if you think that you're
prepared, and you think you know whatyou're going to do, you're really
maybe not as prepared as you think.
(16:27):
That you're gonna that you're gonna beand then like mom and dad and the kid
she was five years old She's five yearsold this little girl this little girl
mom and dad's their first instinct wasto run out I'm sure the kid followed them
and mom and dad ran out of the Passengerdoor out of the door of the trailer and
they both went over to go in and try andattach the garden hose because it Wasn't
attached already They went over Triedto attach the garden hose to try and get
(16:49):
that thing once dad got the hose goingand started doing the fire That's when
mom came around and said where's my baby?
So even mom's first impressionwas Put out the fire or get
the garden hose or something.
They didn't even knowwhere their child was.
Like, there could havebeen another baby in there.
And that's why I asked, isthere anyone else inside?
You know, I didn't know ifthere was anyone else in there.
(17:11):
And mom and dad, I'm looking aroundgoing like, well, where are they?
They're not here.
And now that I'm saying this storyagain, it's like, I was gonna say, mom
and dad may have just left this kidat home alone, or maybe they're at the
pool or doing laundry or something, butI got, I remember there were two cars
there, so I'm like, they gotta be here.
Where are they?
I didn't see them.
At all.
Until after I got the kid to safety,and I grabbed my fire extinguisher,
(17:34):
and then I went back over there.
So that was, all of this justhappened so fast, , and, and, and I
just can't even, uh, think about it.
So, all of this just kind ofgives me a second to think.
Ever since this moment, Irelocated my fire extinguisher.
So it's still in the same spotbehind the back seat, but I moved it.
(17:56):
Into a pocket that I had, um, so I got,on the back of my passenger seat, I got
one of those, uh, shoe racks, you know,where they have little pouches where you
put your shoes in them, they go over theback of a door or something in a home.
So I had one of thoseand I use it for storage.
So I moved my fire extinguisherfrom the clip that was attached
to the back of the seat and I putit in one of those, uh, pockets.
(18:18):
So that way, if I need it, I canjust grab it, it's always there.
It's in the same spot.
Behind the seat, but I don't Idon't have to grab it anymore I
checked the expiration date andI noticed it didn't have one.
I think it's okay But I made it moreavailable and more accessible and more
quickly accessible Ever ever sincethen the other thing I recommend that
(18:40):
You do is if you can go to Amazon.
I did this too and look up fire bags.
These are some amazing fireproof bagsthat you can put your possessions and
your Important documents in so I putlike my passport inside of my fire bag.
I put all my spare keys I put alot of the the stuff that you need.
(19:03):
I put some cash in there as well It'sa small amount just in case I need like
a hotel room or something like that.
I've got multiple credit cards, a lotof them that I don't use but are active,
so I put those in there as well becauseif you need to, something happens and,
and you need to go and get a rentalcar, you need to go get a hotel room,
at least I have my credit cards with me.
That I can use to be able to do that.
(19:24):
So even if I don't have myphone for Apple pay or whatever,
I have some form of payment.
I have my passport card and some oldcredit cards that are still working that I
can use to be able to in a pinch survive.
You know, if you have medicationsthat you have, you need to put
some medications in that fire bagas well and put it in a spot that.
(19:47):
Is safe, put it in a spot thatyou know, that you can grab it.
And that's the thing.
If you have to leave your rig, just likethis family did you, you're not going
to think about grabbing your phone,your keys, your shoes, your wallet.
You're not going to think about it.
You're only going to thinkabout get the heck out.
And that's what you should do.
Just get the heck out.
(20:07):
So once the fire department got there,once everything gets out in the fire,
hopefully that fire bag will preservemany of your important documents
that you'll need to be able to.
, at least for the short terminterim, take care of your needs.
Uh, while we were doing that, and,and, and, this is what was great about
(20:27):
the community of the people that wereall at the RV park, is we all, we all
experience, you know, different kindof events when we're on the road.
While the firefighters were still fightingthe fire, this thing was still going.
Still, you know, flaming while theywere doing that there was a group of
ladies that actually already were onthe phone with the American Red Cross.
(20:47):
They were already on the phone with allthese aid people to come out because mom
was hysterical during this entire time.
They were full time in this thingand everything they had within it.
So there was a group of peoplethat were there making phone
calls to these organizations whilethat thing was still burning.
That was, they, they had thatforesight to say, I can't help.
(21:10):
Put out the fire, but I can't helpthem with what's next and there were
aide workers on site within probablyabout two or three hours from the
time that the fire department left.
So that was great work from the AmericanRed Cross and the people that were
making those calls on behalf of thefamily to get them set up with food,
shelter, clothing, everything theyneeded for that night and the next, you
(21:33):
know, several days that's going on so.
Look, so, look at your firebag, and knowthat you need to put stuff in it, and
if you just need to get out, know that,like, think about it, if you had to start
over today, if you had nothing, if youwere in their shoes, and you just ran
out of your rig, with nothing on, but theclothes on your back, what would you need?
(21:55):
ID.
Credit card.
Backup cell phone maybe?
I don't know.
Documents?
Insurance documents?
Prescriptions?
Um, have those in your go bag.
Have them in the fire bag.
Ready, ready to go.
What about your fire extinguisher?
When was the last time youchecked the expiration date on it?
When was the last time you tookit off of the wall and learned
how to attach it to the wall andcheck the hinges and, and all that?
(22:17):
And...
Did you fall into the same trap thatI did, where I know where it is, but
through just the course of life, itgot buried, it got pushed away, it got
pushed back, and it made it inaccessible,and it took me time, you know, precious
seconds to be able to retrieve that.
That was, um, that was thelearning experience for me.
That was, uh, that was something else.
(22:37):
Um, another thing, if you're reallyconcerned about fire and you should
always be concerned about fire,, there's a solution that I was looking
at when I first started RVing in mysuper C and that's called Proteng
fire solution, it's P R O T E N G.
And what this is, is think of it.
It's like a road flare.
It's about the size of a roadflare and you put it where fires.
(22:58):
start.
You put one in the engine compartment.
Maybe you put one by your generator.
You put one during your, whereyour circuit breakers are.
And this thing...
If it senses heat, or there's atriggering mechanism, I forget
what it is, it's either heat,or fire, or flame, or something.
Um, as soon as it reaches that point, thedevice explodes, and it just sends fire
(23:19):
retardant chemicals all over whateverthe thing is, and it stops the fire.
Even before it starts, so it works whenyou're at your rig, and when you're not
at your rig, it works whether you'reaware of it, as a matter of fact, they
were telling me that this thing will workand go off before you even knew there
was a fire, so if you're really concernedabout that, look into the Proteng, and
(23:40):
I'm sure there's others, but that'sjust the one that I remember, and I'm
not supported or endorsed or anythingaffiliated with them, I just, that,
they're just the ones that I remembergoing to the seminars and, and learning
about them, P R O T E N G, um, they'reexpensive, But think about the alternative
as well, as to the cost of, of what.
(24:00):
other options maybe out there.
So, so think about that.
And there's also fire blankets.
And when you have a fire blanket, it's,it's just a simple blanket that just
hangs somewhere easily accessible.
You pull out the thing from thebottom and then you just put
it over the top of the fire.
And this is especially , usefulin, uh, kitchen fires.
(24:21):
So as I was researching RV fires, oneof the things I saw, and this was a
house fire video where there's a firethat starts on the stove, maybe too much
grease or whatever, and you take thepan and people will take the pan and
they'll move it away from the stove.
But there was one video I saw, andI don't mean to laugh and make light
of it, but they moved it from thestove to the countertop, but where
(24:43):
the countertop was, there was, itwas, there was a window and there was.
Curtains hanging off that window, theflames from the pan moved over to the
fire or moved over to the curtainsand it set the whole kitchen up.
That's where a fire blanketwould come in handy.
You know, where instead of havingto move open flame from one place
to another where you can drop it, itcould spill or it can, you know, the
(25:04):
flames could catch something else.
Just take that fire blanket and throwit right on top of whatever is on
fire and that will take care of it.
So a fire blanket would bereally good to have as well.
If you're in a space where you can useit, and you know that that's an issue.
Especially for a lot of usthat have propane rigs, and
propane stoves, and all that.
You could be cooking up some baconin the morning, and some grease.
(25:24):
Catches fire, and it just getstoo hot, and whoosh, next thing
you know, there everything goes.
So, that's an important thing, if youcan have a, if you can have that as well.
That would be, , Really beneficial andI'm sure there's a lot of other things
that you can have that can prevent firesor different tools my impression from
What happened with the father is whenhe opened that door and that flame, you
(25:48):
know Caught that the the fire caughtthat oxygen when the door opened and
it just fireballed out through the rigI think you learned this in elementary
school, where you feel the door.
If you think there's a fire, you feelthe door and you see if it's hot.
And if it's hot, don't open it.
Like, there's some common,basic stuff that was there.
I'm assuming that he left the door open.
(26:09):
I'm wondering if when that flameIf he closed that bathroom door
again and isolated that fire, ifthat was even a possibility, um,
that could have stopped something.
So, I don't know.
All that's hypothetical.
All I know is that I wasn't asprepared as I thought I was, and I
thought I was pretty well prepared.
And now I start questioning, didI do things in the right order?
(26:29):
You know, like I said, my firstthought was, Is there anyone in there?
We need to get them out.
Not.
Let's put out the fire and you justdon't know how you're going to react
until you're in that kind of situationand I'd Love to hear from you.
If you've been in a similarsituation, how did you react?
What did you do with mythought process, right?
Was it wrong?
I don't know.
That's just what happened The moral ofthe story here is everyone's okay and
(26:53):
stuff can be replaced, but it's still atraumatic event Especially for this five
year old that's gonna carry that memoryfor with her for the rest of her life.
So I'd love to hear your comments on it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Please leave them in the comments.
Go to our Facebook page and ourRV Dreaming pages, and let me
know what your thoughts are.
Uh, email stuart@rvdreaming.tvat rvdreaming.
(27:13):
tv.
I just, you know, this is one of thosethings that I just would love to hear
what you think, how you prepare, and ifyou've had similar situations, alright?
So, thank you for listeningto the RV Dreaming podcast.
If you've liked what you heard or yougot something out of this episode,
please take a moment and leave usa review on Apple Podcasts Spotify.
It helps us get more exposureand it helps more people just
(27:35):
like you to thrive on the road.
So, enjoy your travels, make them safe,make them fun, and make them memorable.
RV Dreaming, start here.
Go anywhere.
We'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for listening tothe RV Dreaming Podcast.
See the action on Instagram, Stewartdoing Stuff, hear about it on the podcast.
Be sure to subscribe.
We'll see you in the next episode.
A fire broke out in a trailer just a few spots down from me.
This is what happened, and what I did, andwhat I learned during this chaotic time.
Welcome to the RV Dreaming Podcast.
Welcome to RV Dreaming.
In this podcast, we help youprepare for life on the road.
Whether you're in an RV, van, or inthe back of your car, we teach you how
(00:20):
to get on the road and how to surviveyour first year as a full time nomad.
RV Dreaming.
Start here.
Go anywhere.
How you doing, everyone?
My name is Stuart from StuartDoing Stuff on Instagram.
I've been a nomad since 2020, and Isplit my time between my 40 foot Super
CR V and my 24 foot Sprinter van.
I travel with my two cats, Camdenand Izzy, and you can follow
(00:40):
me on Instagram at Stuart DoingStuff for more stories and videos.
So today we're going to talk aboutsomething that I think if you ask any
rv or what is your worst fear beingon the road Fire breaking out in your
rv and just totally taking it overis going to be the number one Answer
(01:03):
you're going to get I think no matterhow brave somebody is fire is just
something that still terrifies everybodybecause you just can't control it.
A lot of times you can't predictit and a lot of times it happens
so fast you don't even know thatit happened and that's exactly.
The experience I had when I was stayingat a campground in Las Vegas, I was
(01:25):
sitting down to record a podcast, andall of a sudden, I had my windows open,
and all of a sudden I started smellingsmoke, like campfire smoke, like, you
know, the smell of things burning.
different than other smells.
And my first thought was,Whoa, wait, what is that smell?
It's really strong.
So my first thing is fortunately I'm in avan so I can just look left, look right.
(01:45):
And I can see that there'snothing in my rig that's burning.
That was my first thing that Ipopped my head out my back window.
And I looked at my, , you know,the pedestal where you plug in
your power because I thought, well,maybe that might be something.
So I looked at that and that was fine.
And then I kind of dismissed it.
I kind of went, well, maybe someone just.
Starting a campfire and they're, youknow, I'm in a campground, there's
a lot of kids, it's a weekend.
But then I realized, duh, I'min like freaking Las Vegas.
(02:05):
It's 90 something degrees outoutside in the middle of the day.
No one, no one is startinga campfire right now.
And so I was like, wait, what's going on?
So I kind of took my head and I lookedaround my other window and that's when
I saw it., There is a trailer that wasabout five or six spaces down from me
and the back part was just flaming.
(02:26):
You could see smoke coming outof the front door, you could see
smoke coming out of the windows,and at that point, I could see...
Flames as well some orange, you knowkind of flame so I threw my headphones
off because I was recording the podcastand I put some shoes on and I ran over
to where the Trailer was to see if therewas anybody inside and as I got really
close, I'm talking maybe about 10 feetfrom the trailer I saw this little
(02:48):
girl and she was just standing there.
She was all alone and she wasn't Doinganything she was just standing there like
frozen and I grabbed her and I talkedto her and I said hey Hey, little girl.
Is this your trailer?
Do you do you live here?
And she goes?
Yes.
I was like, well, where'syour mommy and your daddy?
She goes, I don't know and I said, well,do you have any brothers or sisters inside
(03:09):
and she goes no and I said, okay Well,why don't why don't you just come with me?
And so I grabbed her and I grabbedher hand and then I walked her back
behind my rig and there were someother people That were gathering so I
found a family that had something andand I said this this is a girl that
lives in the trailer Can you watch her?
While I go back and they'relike, yeah, we'll watch her.
(03:29):
We'll keep her safe.
So I went back over there to look.
And by now the fire is even moreengulfed and it's even hotter.
So I was like, okay, I got togo get my fire extinguisher.
I, and I thought at this point, and we'remaybe less than a minute into the fire.
We're maybe like 30, 45 secondsfrom the time that I started
smelling smoke to this point.
Okay.
So I ran back to my van and I wentto go get my fire extinguisher.
(03:50):
I knew exactly, I knewexactly where this thing was.
It's right behind my passengerseat, right by the sliding door.
Easy to get to.
I ran back to my van, I opened the slidingglass door, or the sliding door, and I
went to go get the fire extinguisher.
But here's the problem.
Behind my seat, I happened to havea lot of crap in my van at the time,
so my fire extinguisher was buried.
(04:12):
So for me to be able to get to that fireextinguisher, I had tomove my toolbox...
There was a case of soda thatwas sitting in the back there.
There was some other dirty clothesthat was just kind of piling
up in that corner over there.
I had to move all this stuff,and then I got to the fire
extinguisher, but it was stuck.
I couldn't get the clip.
The clip was broken.
It wasn't...
(04:33):
I wasn't able to get it off right away.
I had to break the clip to beable to get the fire extinguisher
off of the back of the wall.
That process of moving all that stuffand getting that fire extinguisher
probably was another 20 to 25 seconds.
And by the time I grabbed that thing andI turned around and I started heading
back to the trailer that was on fire...
It was completely engulfed.
(04:55):
There were flames comingout of the front door.
The smell of that smokewas just so overwhelming.
The heat was gettingstronger and stronger.
And just as I start getting overthere and I'm there, I realized
my little fire extinguisher is notgoing to do anything at this point.
It could have started, it couldhave helped at the beginning.
But now this thing is, is all gone.
There's no way that I can do anything.
(05:17):
And just as I was having that kind ofrevelation, coming around the backside, so
this would have been the driver's side ofthe trailer, um, I saw the mom, and mom's
screaming and yelling, Where's my baby?
Where's my baby?
So I grabbed her, I grabbed themom, and said, She's over there,
we got her safe, she's okay.
So the mom ran over tothe kid and was okay.
And dad was over there hooking up a gardenhose on the driver's side of the trailer.
(05:38):
He was taking one of thosegarden hoses and trying to
get, and that also did nothing.
That was...
A futile, it was a nice try, but it, it,it, it, it, it made no difference at all.
This thing was engulfed.
And what made it worse is even afterthe fire started and it started coming
out of the roof, they were parked undera tree and then that tree caught fire
(05:59):
and that thing just started whoosh.
I mean, we're talking Vegas,you know, so it was dry.
It was hot.
And that, when that tree caughtfire, that's when I think a
lot of panic from some of theother camps started setting in.
People were starting to move their rigs.
Cars were starting to get pulled away.
We were trying to create a path for thefire trucks, which had still not arrived.
(06:21):
And it was, um, it got...
Really, really, reallyintense, really fast.
We're talking, this was only twominutes into this, I would say,
that all this started happening.
So then, we had to kind of take a stepback and go, Listen, we're not going
to be able to get anything in there.
So we're looking at the situation.
It was a trailer, it was probablyabout 30 feet, maybe 28 feet longer.
(06:43):
So it was an older one.
And then right in front,there were two cars.
There's an SUV and asedan car that was parked.
And I asked the wife, I said,do you guys have propane?
She goes, yes, the tanks are in the front.
And so fortunately right now,the fire is still contained to
the back and it's moving forward.
And my thing is fire gets to the front.
You got propane, you got cars, yougot gas tanks, you got all this stuff.
(07:05):
And people were just kind of standingaround watching and recording.
And I said.
Do you have your car keys?
Can we move your cars?
And she goes, no, they're inside,they're inside, we can't do it.
I said, are your cars unlocked?
Maybe we can run and grab one ofthe cars, put it in a neutral,
and push it out of the way.
And she goes, I don't knowif it's locked or not.
(07:25):
And so there was another dude thatwas just sitting there, or standing
there next to me, you know, probablylike two or three people away from me.
And I said, can you help me?
You want to go and push this car?
And the dude just kind of goes, nah.
He's like, nah, I'm good, man.
So I'm like, alright, well,I can't do this on my own.
And there's no one else that's able to,everyone else is moving their own stuff.
You know, people are breaking downtheir cars, people are breaking
(07:48):
down their camps and moving.
Because we were afraid at that time,with that tree going up, that it
was going to catch the other treesand it was going to travel around.
So I'm looking around, and justkind of looking, and I go, these
people are right across the street.
And they're in one of those...
Big huge fifth wheels one of those bigones and they they're carrying those,
you know They're towing with this bigDodge Ram dually trucks or whatever.
(08:09):
They they weren't even outside I knewthey were home because their trucks
were outside, but they weren't outsidewatching I was like, I wonder if they
even know what's going on three spacesdown from them So I went over and I
banged on their door and I said heyand the door and it's all hey, man
You might need to move your, you mightwant to move your truck, just in case.
And the guy's all, whatare you talking about?
He comes around, he's like, holy crap.
(08:30):
And he grabs his keys,and he moves his truck.
He had no idea any of this was going on.
So as soon as he moved his truckout of the way, he grabbed his
garden hose, and then he startedhosing down the roof of his...
fifth wheel because it by this time itwas raining ash that tree was totally
engulfed in flames and ash and littlebits of Things were coming down on us
(08:50):
that could have easily Although unlikelycould have started another little fire
So he gets up onto onto the roof ofhis fifth wheel with his hose And just
starts hosing everything down and kindof all the stuff that's around and
around this time The first fire truckgot there, and it's a fire medic it's a
fire truck, but it was like an ambulance.
It was one of those tinier paramedic,uh, things, but they were fire.
(09:13):
They were able to get this.
The guy asked me, , if I knewwhere the fire hydrant was,
and I said, I I have no idea.
I've never come to think of it.
I don't think I've everseen a fire hydrant.
Inside of a campground and maybe youhave but I haven't but he goes do you
know where I can find a fire hydrantbecause this is the truck again.
It's an ambulance, but it's afirefighting capability truck, but
(09:35):
they don't have their own water so.
I don't, they, I don't, I don't rememberwhat they or did or what they didn't do.
I don't remember because I said,hey, the wife is over here.
She's complaining of chest problems.
She's lying on the ground.
That's why I went to ask ifyou were a medic or whatever.
So, , just after that short amount oftime, then the next fire truck comes
in here and then more and more and moreand all of a sudden Calvary is here.
(09:56):
So they put out the rig fire, they putout the tree fire, they put out all the...
All the stuff they tend to the wife theythey go through this and then during the
time where the fire truck started arrivingis when the Campground management started
showing up on their golf carts and stuff.
I guess nobody really informed themor they didn't know Uh, because the
campground office is way on the otherside But I bet you once the fire trucks
(10:18):
and the ambulances and all that otherstuff starts rolling through their park,
you know They're gonna they're gonna knowthat they're gonna get picked up on that.
So that was it.
They got there They put outthe fire Everyone was safe, but
the trailer was a total wreck.
The firefighters were able to get it sothat it burned from the back to the front.
(10:39):
And about 80 percent of it wastotally destroyed and then it was
just getting to the front part beforethe fire was able to be put out.
So, the good thing is the twovehicles that were there...
They, they were fine.
They didn't get hurt at all.
The propane tanks were fine.
The front cap of thetravel trailer was fine.
I mean, smoke damage, water damage,all that, but it didn't burn.
(11:01):
It wasn't like, you know, things.
So, so that was thatmoment in all of this.
Was in the span of,like, under 10 minutes.
This happened so fast, youdidn't even have time to really
comprehend what was going on.
And, and I think that was the thing,and now that I've had a chance to kind
(11:22):
of stop and think about it and replayit over again in my head, and, and
to say, what did I learn from this?
Or what, What could I have done better?
What could people aroundme have done better?
What could the people who livedin that trailer have done better?
You know, I started kind ofthinking about this and going, Am
I really prepared for an emergency?
Or am I as prepared for anemergency as What I thought I
(11:45):
would be, and I think that was kindof got me really, really going.
So after the everything settled, Istarted talking to the wife again.
I didn't talk to the husband.
He was, but I said, What happened?
And she said that she was watching TV.
They were all watching football.
It's a Sunday afternoon.
They were watching football.
And the husband said, Yousmell something burning.
And she goes, yeah, so he got up offthe sofa and went to the back of the
(12:09):
trailer where their bathroom is andhe opened the door and as soon as he
opened the door, that's when whoosh,a huge fireball just overtook the
entire trailer and they were gone.
The, the mom, dad, and the kid,they just, they just ran out.
That was, and they couldn't,and they never went back in.
It was that fast of a moment wherethat fireball comes in and whoosh, that
(12:30):
overwhelming heat inside that trailergoes, oh crap, and then they were gone.
They were out of the thing.
They didn't have shoeson, didn't have jackets.
They didn't have anything, butliterally the clothes on their back.
And that's how I found the littlegirls just standing right there by
the trailer with, you know, barefootand, and her little, you know, Sunday
pajama things, watching the game.
That was.
That was all they had after thiswas over, and it, and it happened
(12:53):
all in just a matter of seconds.
And that was, it's just eventhinking about it now, on how
fast everything just took place.
You've really got to ask yourself,are you, are you really prepared?
So, as I kind of go through this inmy head, and I'm like, well, what
did I hear and what did I not hear?
What did I learn?
What could I have done better?
(13:13):
I, a couple things, okay?
When I look back on it, if I saw the fire,which I did, if I had grabbed my fire
extinguisher right away and headed over tothe trailer, it was small enough to where
maybe, maybe my tiny extinguisher or maybeone or two other fire, tiny extinguishers
could have gotten the fire out, butmy first thought was Is there anybody
(13:35):
inside, which is why I took off frommy van and went straight to the trailer
is to see if anyone needed help gettingout, you know, it's an older trailer.
You don't know ifthey're seniors in there.
You don't know if there'ssomebody with mobility issues.
You don't know if there's,you know, whatever.
So my first thought wasn't grab thefire extinguisher, put out the fire.
My first thought was, let's get overthere and see if anybody needs to get out,
(13:57):
see if anybody needs help getting out.
That was where my first thought was, sothat's why I ran over there and I found
the girl and we moved her to the side.
That's why I had to come back to the vanto get the fire extinguisher, because
now that I knew everyone was out andeveryone was away from the fire, then it
was like, okay, let's put the fire out.
Now, was that the right call?
I don't know.
You, you tell me, because I couldhave grabbed my fire extinguisher,
(14:20):
and headed straight over, butmy, that wasn't my first thought.
My first thought was.
Is there anybody insidethey need to get out?
And then I, I think even mythought may have been, the
fire's not that big right now.
I can get in there and helpsomebody get out if they need it.
And somebody else can help with the fire.
I don't, I don't, I don't exactlyremember the, all the thoughts
(14:42):
that were going through my head.
I just remember, if there's someonein there, they need to get out.
And that was, that waswhere my mindset went first.
Not, put out the fire.
It was, get people out.
So, I noticed that.
As I started processing things more,another thing I didn't no another
thing that I noticed that I didn'tnotice at the time, if that makes
(15:04):
sense, is I didn't hear a fire alarm.
Normally, in a trailer withall that smoke, you'd be
hearing a fire alarm go off.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, and I didn't hear that.
Like, I was cooking one day in my van,um, with the air fryer, and the air
fryer set off my fire alarm on my van,and I had somebody from my neighbors
come over and knock on my van justto make sure everything was okay.
(15:25):
So, these things are loud, and whenyou're, you're, when you're tucked
in as tight as you are, especiallyat this campground that I was at
in Las Vegas, you know, you canhear your neighbor's television
if they have their windows open.
You can hear them screamingand yelling and fighting.
You can hear a fire alarm, youknow, and I didn't, now that
I think about it, I didn't.
I didn't hear a fire alarm, so iteither melted, which is possible,
(15:46):
but I don't remember hearing one atall, uh, during this entire time.
Another thing that, , I didn't, Idon't, I didn't ever even thought about
until I said, Can we move your car?
Do you have your keys?
You know, they're just lounging around,and they didn't have their keys to,
to move the vehicles in that event.
Their, their instinct was get out,and they didn't grab anything.
(16:06):
They didn't grab their wallet,they didn't grab their car keys,
they didn't grab their cell phones.
Didn't grab anything.
Instinct just kicked in and said, I'm out.
So, this tells me that, like, if you'retrying to, if you think that you're
prepared, and you think you know whatyou're going to do, you're really
maybe not as prepared as you think.
(16:27):
That you're gonna that you're gonna beand then like mom and dad and the kid
she was five years old She's five yearsold this little girl this little girl
mom and dad's their first instinct wasto run out I'm sure the kid followed them
and mom and dad ran out of the Passengerdoor out of the door of the trailer and
they both went over to go in and try andattach the garden hose because it Wasn't
attached already They went over Triedto attach the garden hose to try and get
(16:49):
that thing once dad got the hose goingand started doing the fire That's when
mom came around and said where's my baby?
So even mom's first impressionwas Put out the fire or get
the garden hose or something.
They didn't even knowwhere their child was.
Like, there could havebeen another baby in there.
And that's why I asked, isthere anyone else inside?
You know, I didn't know ifthere was anyone else in there.
(17:11):
And mom and dad, I'm looking aroundgoing like, well, where are they?
They're not here.
And now that I'm saying this storyagain, it's like, I was gonna say, mom
and dad may have just left this kidat home alone, or maybe they're at the
pool or doing laundry or something, butI got, I remember there were two cars
there, so I'm like, they gotta be here.
Where are they?
I didn't see them.
At all.
Until after I got the kid to safety,and I grabbed my fire extinguisher,
(17:34):
and then I went back over there.
So that was, all of this justhappened so fast, , and, and, and I
just can't even, uh, think about it.
So, all of this just kind ofgives me a second to think.
Ever since this moment, Irelocated my fire extinguisher.
So it's still in the same spotbehind the back seat, but I moved it.
(17:56):
Into a pocket that I had, um, so I got,on the back of my passenger seat, I got
one of those, uh, shoe racks, you know,where they have little pouches where you
put your shoes in them, they go over theback of a door or something in a home.
So I had one of thoseand I use it for storage.
So I moved my fire extinguisherfrom the clip that was attached
to the back of the seat and I putit in one of those, uh, pockets.
(18:18):
So that way, if I need it, I canjust grab it, it's always there.
It's in the same spot.
Behind the seat, but I don't Idon't have to grab it anymore I
checked the expiration date andI noticed it didn't have one.
I think it's okay But I made it moreavailable and more accessible and more
quickly accessible Ever ever sincethen the other thing I recommend that
(18:40):
You do is if you can go to Amazon.
I did this too and look up fire bags.
These are some amazing fireproof bagsthat you can put your possessions and
your Important documents in so I putlike my passport inside of my fire bag.
I put all my spare keys I put alot of the the stuff that you need.
(19:03):
I put some cash in there as well It'sa small amount just in case I need like
a hotel room or something like that.
I've got multiple credit cards, a lotof them that I don't use but are active,
so I put those in there as well becauseif you need to, something happens and,
and you need to go and get a rentalcar, you need to go get a hotel room,
at least I have my credit cards with me.
That I can use to be able to do that.
(19:24):
So even if I don't have myphone for Apple pay or whatever,
I have some form of payment.
I have my passport card and some oldcredit cards that are still working that I
can use to be able to in a pinch survive.
You know, if you have medicationsthat you have, you need to put
some medications in that fire bagas well and put it in a spot that.
(19:47):
Is safe, put it in a spot thatyou know, that you can grab it.
And that's the thing.
If you have to leave your rig, just likethis family did you, you're not going
to think about grabbing your phone,your keys, your shoes, your wallet.
You're not going to think about it.
You're only going to thinkabout get the heck out.
And that's what you should do.
Just get the heck out.
(20:07):
So once the fire department got there,once everything gets out in the fire,
hopefully that fire bag will preservemany of your important documents
that you'll need to be able to.
, at least for the short terminterim, take care of your needs.
Uh, while we were doing that, and,and, and, this is what was great about
(20:27):
the community of the people that wereall at the RV park, is we all, we all
experience, you know, different kindof events when we're on the road.
While the firefighters were still fightingthe fire, this thing was still going.
Still, you know, flaming while theywere doing that there was a group of
ladies that actually already were onthe phone with the American Red Cross.
(20:47):
They were already on the phone with allthese aid people to come out because mom
was hysterical during this entire time.
They were full time in this thingand everything they had within it.
So there was a group of peoplethat were there making phone
calls to these organizations whilethat thing was still burning.
That was, they, they had thatforesight to say, I can't help.
(21:10):
Put out the fire, but I can't helpthem with what's next and there were
aide workers on site within probablyabout two or three hours from the
time that the fire department left.
So that was great work from the AmericanRed Cross and the people that were
making those calls on behalf of thefamily to get them set up with food,
shelter, clothing, everything theyneeded for that night and the next, you
(21:33):
know, several days that's going on so.
Look, so, look at your firebag, and knowthat you need to put stuff in it, and
if you just need to get out, know that,like, think about it, if you had to start
over today, if you had nothing, if youwere in their shoes, and you just ran
out of your rig, with nothing on, but theclothes on your back, what would you need?
(21:55):
ID.
Credit card.
Backup cell phone maybe?
I don't know.
Documents?
Insurance documents?
Prescriptions?
Um, have those in your go bag.
Have them in the fire bag.
Ready, ready to go.
What about your fire extinguisher?
When was the last time youchecked the expiration date on it?
When was the last time you tookit off of the wall and learned
how to attach it to the wall andcheck the hinges and, and all that?
(22:17):
And...
Did you fall into the same trap thatI did, where I know where it is, but
through just the course of life, itgot buried, it got pushed away, it got
pushed back, and it made it inaccessible,and it took me time, you know, precious
seconds to be able to retrieve that.
That was, um, that was thelearning experience for me.
That was, uh, that was something else.
(22:37):
Um, another thing, if you're reallyconcerned about fire and you should
always be concerned about fire,, there's a solution that I was looking
at when I first started RVing in mysuper C and that's called Proteng
fire solution, it's P R O T E N G.
And what this is, is think of it.
It's like a road flare.
It's about the size of a roadflare and you put it where fires.
(22:58):
start.
You put one in the engine compartment.
Maybe you put one by your generator.
You put one during your, whereyour circuit breakers are.
And this thing...
If it senses heat, or there's atriggering mechanism, I forget
what it is, it's either heat,or fire, or flame, or something.
Um, as soon as it reaches that point, thedevice explodes, and it just sends fire
(23:19):
retardant chemicals all over whateverthe thing is, and it stops the fire.
Even before it starts, so it works whenyou're at your rig, and when you're not
at your rig, it works whether you'reaware of it, as a matter of fact, they
were telling me that this thing will workand go off before you even knew there
was a fire, so if you're really concernedabout that, look into the Proteng, and
(23:40):
I'm sure there's others, but that'sjust the one that I remember, and I'm
not supported or endorsed or anythingaffiliated with them, I just, that,
they're just the ones that I remembergoing to the seminars and, and learning
about them, P R O T E N G, um, they'reexpensive, But think about the alternative
as well, as to the cost of, of what.
(24:00):
other options maybe out there.
So, so think about that.
And there's also fire blankets.
And when you have a fire blanket, it's,it's just a simple blanket that just
hangs somewhere easily accessible.
You pull out the thing from thebottom and then you just put
it over the top of the fire.
And this is especially , usefulin, uh, kitchen fires.
(24:21):
So as I was researching RV fires, oneof the things I saw, and this was a
house fire video where there's a firethat starts on the stove, maybe too much
grease or whatever, and you take thepan and people will take the pan and
they'll move it away from the stove.
But there was one video I saw, andI don't mean to laugh and make light
of it, but they moved it from thestove to the countertop, but where
(24:43):
the countertop was, there was, itwas, there was a window and there was.
Curtains hanging off that window, theflames from the pan moved over to the
fire or moved over to the curtainsand it set the whole kitchen up.
That's where a fire blanketwould come in handy.
You know, where instead of havingto move open flame from one place
to another where you can drop it, itcould spill or it can, you know, the
(25:04):
flames could catch something else.
Just take that fire blanket and throwit right on top of whatever is on
fire and that will take care of it.
So a fire blanket would bereally good to have as well.
If you're in a space where you can useit, and you know that that's an issue.
Especially for a lot of usthat have propane rigs, and
propane stoves, and all that.
You could be cooking up some baconin the morning, and some grease.
(25:24):
Catches fire, and it just getstoo hot, and whoosh, next thing
you know, there everything goes.
So, that's an important thing, if youcan have a, if you can have that as well.
That would be, , Really beneficial andI'm sure there's a lot of other things
that you can have that can prevent firesor different tools my impression from
What happened with the father is whenhe opened that door and that flame, you
(25:48):
know Caught that the the fire caughtthat oxygen when the door opened and
it just fireballed out through the rigI think you learned this in elementary
school, where you feel the door.
If you think there's a fire, you feelthe door and you see if it's hot.
And if it's hot, don't open it.
Like, there's some common,basic stuff that was there.
I'm assuming that he left the door open.
(26:09):
I'm wondering if when that flameIf he closed that bathroom door
again and isolated that fire, ifthat was even a possibility, um,
that could have stopped something.
So, I don't know.
All that's hypothetical.
All I know is that I wasn't asprepared as I thought I was, and I
thought I was pretty well prepared.
And now I start questioning, didI do things in the right order?
(26:29):
You know, like I said, my firstthought was, Is there anyone in there?
We need to get them out.
Not.
Let's put out the fire and you justdon't know how you're going to react
until you're in that kind of situationand I'd Love to hear from you.
If you've been in a similarsituation, how did you react?
What did you do with mythought process, right?
Was it wrong?
I don't know.
That's just what happened The moral ofthe story here is everyone's okay and
(26:53):
stuff can be replaced, but it's still atraumatic event Especially for this five
year old that's gonna carry that memoryfor with her for the rest of her life.
So I'd love to hear your comments on it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Please leave them in the comments.
Go to our Facebook page and ourRV Dreaming pages, and let me
know what your thoughts are.
Uh, email stuart@rvdreaming.tvat rvdreaming.
(27:13):
tv.
I just, you know, this is one of thosethings that I just would love to hear
what you think, how you prepare, and ifyou've had similar situations, alright?
So, thank you for listeningto the RV Dreaming podcast.
If you've liked what you heard or yougot something out of this episode,
please take a moment and leave usa review on Apple Podcasts Spotify.
It helps us get more exposureand it helps more people just
(27:35):
like you to thrive on the road.
So, enjoy your travels, make them safe,make them fun, and make them memorable.
RV Dreaming, start here.
Go anywhere.
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Thanks for listening tothe RV Dreaming Podcast.
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