Stupid Ways People Started Fires

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
May 1, 2020 2:00 PM EDT

From a really early age, most of us are taught the extreme basics of fire safety. You'd be amazed at how many people think that flooding a room with oxygen or covering a fire with paper towels will put it out. Whether it's due to panic, carelessness or people just not knowing any better, firefighters have to save people from some really stupid situations.

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  • 01
    Text - Text - corvettee01 8.2k points · 18 hours ago · edited 16 hours ago My Dad was a firefighter, and he once went to a house fire that was started by the old lady who lived there. She liked to burn candles, but didn't like the wax buildup that would form in the cavity, so she would soak up the liquid wax with a napkin. She was doing this when she accidentally brushed a wax soaked napkin up against the flame. She panicked and threw the napkin into the trash . .. where all the other wax napkin
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  • 02
    Text - stupidlyugly 7.8k points · 18 hours ago The ole turkey fryer on the wood deck is always a favorite. Harley_Atom 4.4k points · 14 hours ago My dad is a firefighter and he once told me that if I ever want to start a fire and make it look like an accident that the turkey cooker is the way to do it. He taught me how to commit arson and insurance fraud.
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  • 03
    Text - Text - bananainmyminion 7.2k points · 17 hours ago In the city of Colorad Springs, the local news did a fluff piece about candle safety near Christmas. After they were done filming , the store owner that they were filming in took the crew out to breakfast. She didn't put out the candles, and burned several shops to the ground. The film crew was there to film her breakdown when they realised what caused the fire.
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  • 04
    Text - Text - remlik 4.5k points · 18 hours ago Teenager was charcoal grilling in the attached garage during the winter. When done he decided the best place to dispose of the hot coals was into a cardboard box in front corner of the garage closest to the house. Yeah, it went about as well as you can imagine.
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  • 05
    Text - Text - SeriousSam430 3.1k points · 17 hours ago A roomba knocked a scented candle over and set fire to the rest of the room. The guy said he knew the roomba did it because he watched the whole thing happen, but didn't do anything because he thought it was funny.
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  • 06
    Text - Text - snufalufalgus 1.6k points · 18 hours ago · edited 18 hours ago I am a firefighter but this wasn't in my district. A guy was attempting to forge a sword burn barrel in an alley, based on something he watched on the History Channel. The embers from the "forge" lit up the building he lived in and destroyed 3 multi family residential buildings.
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  • 07
    Text - Text - two-stumps 1.3k points · 16 hours ago My father was a Boston Firefighter for 30+ years. One of his more memorable stories was a foreign family who had ripped up their cast iron bathtub, and built an open flame underneath the tub. They used the tub as a giant oil fryer. Naturally this didn't work out very well and the house caught fire. To add to the insanity even more, the family absolutely refused to let my dad and his coworkers in without taking their boots off. Which of course,
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  • 08
    Text - De_Rossi 140 points · 17 hours ago Was in my local paper, turned out to be my friends older brother. He tried to smoke out bees in the loft and set fire to the insulation in the loft and burnt the whole house down.
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  • 09
    Text - Text - HatchlingChibi 1.2k points · 17 hours ago In college a girl in the dorms was making popcorn which (not sure how but somehow) caught fire in the microwave. She didn't want to get into trouble for it so she grabbed the flaming bag of popcorn and threw it into the nearby trashcan. Then proceeded to cover the fire with paper towels to "smother" it. She actually thought it would work. It did not work. I came back exhausted after work to find the dorm building surrounded by firetrucks.
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  • 10
    Text - Text - Jef_Wheaton 1.1k points · 17 hours ago Not a house fire, but really good! Late 1980s. Guy was driving an old, beat-up Lincoln. He turned a corner to go up a steep hill, but the road dept. had recently ground the asphalt down in preparation to repave. A storm sewer manhole cover was sticking up about 4". As he went over it and up the hill, the rear of his car dragged due to the pavement height difference, and the manhole ripped open his fuel tank and sparked off the gas. Guy describ
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  • 11
    Text - Text - Skimanmike 785 points · 17 hours ago This happened this past fall, but a family had a "fairy house" that was outside, right next to their wood sides house. The fairy house was made out of an old tree, and had a bunch of decorations in it, including incense candles. One evening, they decided that they would light the candles for the fairy's, which then caught the tree on fire, which then extended into the house. Since it started on the outside, it ran up the side of the house and go
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  • 12
    Text - Text - brianh71 6.7k points · 17 hours ago I worked for a restoration company. A family cut a small tree down and tried to stuff it up their fireplace to burn. The flute was so crammed with leaves that smoke started to fill the living room. They tried to pull the tree out and that's when it REALLY caught fire. They tried to pull it out of the house, they got as far as the front door. All of them had 2nd/3rd degree burns on their hands/arms and the fire destroyed the front room and entry w
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  • 13
    Text - Text - Jef_Wheaton 2.7k points · 18 hours ago A fairly common one, but the response was interesting! Early February, Western PA. Guy's pipes freeze on the coldest day of the year, -8F. He tries to thaw them with a propane torch. Sets the wall on fire. Tries to put the fire out. Fails. Finally calls 911. Fire Chief is 1/2 block away. Is on-scene in under a minute. Basement is fully involved, main floor catching. First engine arrives in under 5 minutes. Doors are blocked by fire, exterior a
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  • 14
    Text - Text - herculeesjr 520 points · 18 hours ago Not a firefighter, but the apartment building I lived in at the time caught fire because all my neighbors smoke and throw their cigarette butts into the ground which happened to be fresh mulch before going up the steps. The mulch caught fire which lit the siding on fire. No one's fire alarms went off, someone driving by saw the smoke, stopped, ran and pulled the fire alarm, but it was only connected to the buzzer in the breezeway, not the fire
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  • 15
    Text - Text - LozNewman 410 points · 18 hours ago News article I read. One guy had a fish bowl in his garden shed. Sunlight was focussed through the bowl, through his kitchen window... Fwoomph!
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  • 16
    Text - Text - atlienk 396 points · 18 hours ago Not a firefighter, but I set my parents bathroom on fire while getting up from the toilet. My mom used to leave potpourri simmering in a small bowl on the back of the toilet with a candle to heat / stew it just below. As I was getting up I somehow knocked the apparatus off the back of the commode. We had carpet floors in that bathroom and that section of the floor caught pretty quickly. The fire then found a seam in the wallpaper, and ignited the g
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  • 17
    Text - AlaWyrm 274 points · 16 hours ago When my father in law was a kid, he really wanted to have a camp fire. His parents told him no. He was determined to have a camp fire so he went up to his room and started one under his bed so they wouldn't know. I keep that knowledge in my back pocket for whenever he wants to imply I'm an idiot.
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crazy wtf firefighters absurd fires ridiculous dumb stories dangerous stupid
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