Congratulations to our Fire Safety Hero Award winner, Jarrod R. Here’s their fire safety story submitted on our website.
Weeks after moving onto my new property in a rural area I was filling up a large water tote off my newly dug well because the electricians still needed to come permanently hook up my well. A local farmer was driving a large piece of cotton farming equipment down a dirt road but it is a residential area not farm and he hit a low hanging power wire going across the road.
The pop is what got my attention, despite being a tad bit slower than I used to be (disabled veteran) myself and my helper (Cody Osborn) who is also a disabled veteran both took chase approximately 1000 feet from my property we jumped in his truck and we were smart enough to grab a fire extinguisher out of instinct.
[Neighbors] were filming but not actually helping the farmer who was awake but seemed to be in shock from a high voltage connection with the large machine. The wire was down and away from the vehicle but in shock he kept trying to run over it and back forward and was putting himself in more danger. I climbed onto his cab and yelled for him to stop while my helper proceeded to remove him from the vehicle, I felt static pops on my hands strong enough to make my arms twitch as I climbed to the top to put out the small smoking that was there.
We used the entirety of our commercial hand me down fire extinguisher that was well past its prime bit an important safety component for my new shop. It didn’t even touch it, between the electricity still somehow stored In the machine and the very flammable cotton the fire would be put out and then moments later start in a new spot feet away from the original.
We went through 4 fire extinguishers some attached to his equipment and one more from my helpers own vehicle on this machine to keep it from engulfing in flames and we [finally] got him turned around towards my place and brought the large water tote out and used a 12 volt battery and a harbor freight water pump to empty 250 gallons of water as the volunteer fire department came and took over the situation.
While this may not sound like its in support of the value of a fire extinguisher, in fact if it wasn’t for not only my extinguishers but the ones on the machine, due to the volatile nature of cotton and the electric energy somehow stored along the machine [I’m] confident this man would have been burned alive just feet away from people’s porches and driveways. I learned that day that it is important to have multiple fire extinguishers in every area that has a potential risk not just because of the time it saves in an emergency but that when people are rushing to your aide it is important that they have quick access to one if you yourself are not able to preform self care.
Fire department was called | Woodrow, TX V.F.D. responded.
Story submitted by Jarrod R. of Lubbock, TX.