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Local AMA club fire

Discussion in 'General Talk Forum' started by ToxicToast, Jul 5, 2011.

  1. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Hey guys, thought I'd share this with you. Was coming home from work Friday night and I saw off in the distance what looked like a small brush fire. Pretty dry here, even though we had an unusually wet winter and spring in northern Cal. Came home, had some dinner and grabbed a couple planes to take advantage of the nearly perfect weather here (2mph winds are awesome!). Met up with the crew at the local rouge field and got ready for some evening and night flying activities. Had a great night flying and some awesome LED action, even though we could still see the smoke off in the distance. Even got buzzed a few times by the local news crews and rescue heli who seemed to be interested in our night flyers.

    Got word the next day that the smoke was from a nearby AMA field, the local one called AMOS. I'm not a club member there but several buddies are and often fly there as a guest. Turns out, there was a gas heli that went down and the field caught fire causing quite a bit of damage to the field. These guys only just got their field together and have been struggling with a very high bond and a lot of red tape to get the field established. I suspect that this will cause quite a bit of scrutiny now to the club activities. To make matters worse, the word I caught was there was no fire supression equipment at the field and that is a big deal.

    Folks, it might be a good idea to stow a small extinguisher into our mobile hangers, even those of us who fly rouge or in the parks. I'm guilty of not keeping one and really should know better so I am going to pick up a small KIDDE model ABC next time I'm up at the local hardware store. Hate to have something like this happen to bring a lot of negative attention to our hobby.

    TT Attached files [​IMG]
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    I have to say I really feel for the guys trying to get this field started. BTW
    TT How did you get this cool picture? :)
    Mark and Trish
     
  3. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    I think one of the club members has a decent AP rig. Flight line is still usable.
     
  4. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Man that is crazy.
    It would seem more like a turbine heli than a gasser. Turbines ignite badly. We have a small extinguisher at our field but I don't think it would do much good if a lipo or something else caught fire if the crash site was farther out from the flight line. We aren't allowed to fly turbines at our field because of the fire hazard we are in part of a buffer preserve.
    That is a good aerial shot though.
     
  5. rcav8r

    rcav8r Moderator Staff Member

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    WOW That was a rather large fire. I agree with Shaun; kinda strange it was a gasser. I've seen quite a few spectacular crashes with gas planes, and no fire. We had a turbine go down at our field last fall. It was rather wet at the time so the fire didn't spread, but it was rather intense.
    Hope that this doesn't hurt their prospects of keeping the field.
     
  6. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Pretty crazy. Either way, we should all make sure we have some extra safety equipment handy!

    TT
     
  7. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    One of our club members had a lipo go POOF the other day. It was brand new. He had one flight on it and charged it up. After it was done charging he said hey guys I think this lipo is puffing up. It was crazy, the thing just kept getting bigger and bigger.
    Here's the vid.
     
  8. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Man, that is scary fast.

    I talked to a few guys and sure enough, it was a lipo that caused all that damage.
     
  9. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    The lipo in that vid was for a Trex 600.
     
  10. dhc8guru

    dhc8guru Member

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    With the drought going on here in Texas, I started carrying a fire extinguisher in my car just in case.
     
  11. Chuck

    Chuck New Member

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    A flaming lipo cost me a three car garage, a car, a motorcycle, a garden tractor, a freezer, and about 12,000 dollars worth of Rc planes and associated equipment. Also, hand tools, power tools and other paraphenalia found in garages. It took in excess of $30,000 to rebuild and refill. Since that time I have developed a healthy respect for LiPo batteries and caution anyone agaist leaving them unattended while charging. When not charging, good old fashioned military ammo boxes are great storage places. Be careful with these things guys.
    The viedo was awesome.

    Chuck
    ...somewhere in Indiana...
     
  12. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Chuck, you are absolutely right. Still there is those times when you run inside to make a pit stop, or your wife calls you to do an emergency honey-do or whatever. I charge in my garage, but I have a bit of insurance in the form of a battery powered smoke alarm directly over the ammo tin that I use as a charging bunker. A little extra peace of mind.

    Really sorry to hear that you had such a tragic outcome.
     
  13. rcav8r

    rcav8r Moderator Staff Member

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    I ALWAYS charge OUTSIDE. I don't have the time to watch them, so I just charge them in the middle of the yard. I have yet to have one go off, but there is plenty of proof around that they do.
     

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