'It makes it hard to collect on the job'

[jack hamilton]

Gentlemen,

I got one!
A totally appropriate story about fire extinguishers.
Once upon a time 'Jack the Knife' {that's me} was a Roofer. 'Jack the Roofer', He was over in Ft. Worth roofing a small flat roof over the kitchen on the back of a 100 year old house near a college. I was torching down 90 Lb rolls of 'Rubberoid' in the summer and I had my old fire extinguisher sitting right there. It came from some old building my Dad had rented and I knew nothing about it.

The guy who showed me how to apply this kind of roof, to 'torch down' as it were, old Bruce Ruckman, said with great emphisis, "All ways have a water hose hanging from a nearby limb and running! all day! Just a little, but running. If you are going to be 'un Torchero' as the Mexicans say, all ways have water running from that little hose grabbing distance from the roof! First get the people out, then call the fire department, then put out the fire."

So the first thing I did when I went over there one morning to apply the new roof was to hunt down a water hose that didn't leak. Hoses everywhere and they all leaked but but I picked the best one, no leaks. Found a faucet that worked and hooked up the hose, testing the hose and the faucet. Satisfied, I loaded the roof and went to work.

I was working along and the roof was almost done and looked pretty good actually, when I turned around and saw smoke coming from inside the wall I was torching on. I tore back the roofing material I had just applied and saw no flame but lots of smoke coming from the back of a board I had been working on. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and it put out a white powder but no liquid. The powder would not go back on the other side of the board where the smoke was coming from. I couldn't get my hand inside the crack and I was starting to get scared. Keeping cool, I climbed down the ladder and went to the front door. A guy opened it a renter and I said:
"The house is on fire!
Get everybody and everything out, the dogs, cats, fish, birds, everything, get them out in the front yard and no body leaves so that we can have a good head count. Then go next door and do the same. The renter said she is at work and doesn't have any animals. I said kick in the door, I'll pay for it and make sure everything is out and then you... go back in and call the fire department I'm going to try and put out the fire," and I ran around the side of the house to the back.

There was no time to waste. I turned the hose on {the faucet was right at the foot of the ladder} climbed up the ladder to the roof and started spraying water behind that board which was still putting out lots of smoke. I could hear fire engines coming in the distance and my old fire extinguisher no good I was in a plain fix! {tap tap tap}
But the water was helping. The fire trucks were pulling up out front and men were running around the yard. I became aware of a man opposite the wall I was working on and he said: "hey!"
Hey! I replied and I began to feel better. He said: "You got the fire out!"
The fire chief and several officers came around the house on the driveway and we were talking when the fireman in the attic or whatever was on the other side of the wall said "here!" And handed me a board about 2" long with a knot on the other side which was scorched. That was the culprit, a 100 year old pine knot. I threw it down to the officers on the ground and they examined it and said: "You did exactly the right thing. You got everybody out of the building and called the fire department, then before we could even get here and we were 2 blocks away, put out the fire."
"Good work!"

Yes sir, I said when you burn down the building it makes it hard to collect on the job. He didn't smile but said kinda to himself:
"Roofers."


Thank you...


Jack the Knife