#fire & safety

[aesethewitch]

Witches will be like "my spell candle did something weird!!! Is this a sign????" And they'll show you the before and after pics for reference and.

By god in the first picture, the candle is loaded with plastic glitter and too many herbs all around the wick and a thick sheen of vegetable oil and essential oils. And the second picture is a shattered glass plate and wax absolutely everywhere and scorch marks on the table and.

Babes that isn't "weird" and the only "sign" here is that you have no concept of candle safety!!!!

[archerinventive]

Ended up being out of reception range this past Fire Friday, so heres my belated post. :)

These photos come to us from this years Sha'bang festival, where Ashmo_fire and I had the pleasure of performing alongside a selection of talent fireperformers for Saturdays evening show.

A huge thank you to Avery Sharp for coordinating the show and to Trevor Howard of htj2_photohraphy for capturing the moment. :)

We can't wait to return to that inspiring venue in years to come. :)

[fernthewhimsical]

Rant on fire safety

While absolutely gorgeous, I HATE this trend of "aesthetic candles". This is from a local witch shop, that sells these candles. Look at it! It's an absolute fire hazard. A plastic flower molten into the wax. You should not have plastic anywhere near a candle flame. Look at the glitter. Guess what? ALSO PLASTIC.

At best it's gonna smell horrendous, because molten plastic stinks. But burn enough of these candles and you're likely to give yourself cancer. Yes, you read that right. Do no inhale fumes of molten plastic!

Stop making candles with materials that shouldn't be burnt! ffs

[hestiashearthfire]

Gentle reminder as we go into 2024 to please practice fire safety when giving offerings. If you have live candles and incense on your altar, never leave them unattended, and always keep a bowl of water nearby for safely extinguishing any lit matches, incense sticks, or other flammable items. You can even get fancy and have a dedicated water bowl if you must, but be safe. Fire is pretty, but dangerous.

[coffentyme]

Hey- so, not a normal post for me, but if you have mutual(s) living in BC or Northern Alberta, Canada please keep them in your thoughts. Wildfire season is no joke and we’re now entering evacuation season too. Jasper, AB has already been evacuated due to severe wildfires ranging over hundreds of hectares worth of forest, and now a sect of my home town has received an evacuation alert as well from a lighting caused fire of over 133 hectares and is rapidly growing by the hour.

Knock on wood but times are getting extremely worrisome, each summer is getting hotter and more deadly than the last, and people are being displaced from their homes at an alarming rate. Not just people but their animals too.

I know in the grand scheme of things this is not the most troubling thing happening in our world but it’s scary none the less.

A gentle reminder for any one living in BC or Alberta, Canada. Be prepared, be informed, and be ready. If you haven’t already you can download the BC WILDFIRE SERVICE app to keep updated on fires in your area, updates, notices, evacuation alerts, etc.

Please don’t forget to love one another and help your neighbours. Please reblog if you can ❤️

[fatphobiabusters]

Hey, sorry if this is a weird question but I'm trying to learn more since I honestly wasn't educated about fatphobia before and I'm trying to fix that (especially now that I won't be a teen in a few months and my mom could be considered fat and I love food so like we all know the body type I'll have in a few years). I often see people say that being fat is bad because people like firefighters and nurses get injured when saving/caring for them and I'd like to know if there's any way to like.. fix that? I obviously don't want very poorly compensated people risking their lives to get injured more than they have to but I also don't think policing people's bodies is right...

Hmmm where to start. The thing is nurses are understaffed, often asked to move patients by themselves when they shouldn't be. It's not just fat people that can injure a nurse, anyone who can't assist on their own lifting can. Lifting say, 180 pounds from the floor is risky, Hospital beds are closer to the average person waist plus there are handles and bars for the patient to assist. Rolling a patient in bed is difficult, again if the patient can't assist. Making sure staff is getting help is crucial. They wouldn't let me move myself from the bed I was on, onto the surgery table but it was quick and took three people to properly nest me and slide me over. (I was going in for gallbladder surgery) there were multiple people who could have assisted in the room if they needed more. So really, fighting under staffing and over working in the medical field is key.

Im not as familiar with fire fighting techniques however I know that there's an issue of businesses not having Evac Chairs or sleds for the physically disabled. I'm thinking of the brand Evac Chairs but ANY such device is useful.

Im looking at the sleds:

This goes up to 440

This one goes up to 500 carrying capacity!

These should be part of fire and rescue training and provided to the rescuers for public safety. Any business that sees a large amount of foot traffic should have these on site. (I don't expect a small mom and pop shop to have one, but Walmart should. Hospitals should.)

So basically: proper training, the right equipment and proper staff. These all play a role in how to circumvent awful situations.

Also take the consideration of what these people say "it's bad to be fat because nurses and fire fighters" these types of people are one bad turn from saying "it's bad to be in a wheelchair because it's too hard for fire rescue" or "it's bad to need nurses to turn you to prevent bed sores" they think, fundamentally, that fat people choose to be fat so we deserve less empathy. And even if it was 100% a choice for every person, it doesn't mean we don't deserve care and common sense accomedations. You can't say you respect bodily autonomy and support disability rights if your support is conditional. Only supporting "the good ones" is a policy in futility.

As an aside: check your smoke detectors and reduce fire hazards. Know your exits and keep low to the floor if there's smoke. Regardless of size people get real relaxed with fire safety because it's rare it's an issue. Some basic things is all you can do so please do them or have someone your trust to do them.

-mod squirrel

[marzipanandminutiae]

Sorry if this is inappropriate, but I was kinda wondering what caused your house fire? What to avoid doing the future if it was preventative ya know

My housemate's e-bike battery was charging in their room, and combusted. I was at work; thankfully everyone else got out safely. But we all lost our apartment and most of our personal possessions. The bike's owner lost literally everything- they were in the shower and escaped wearing only a towel. Their room looked like a crater; that's not an exaggeration.

I support electric vehicles as part of the fight against climate change, but I REALLY need people to be aware of the risks. The lithium ion batteries they use are not like the one in your phone or your computer, or even in an electric car. While any of the above can catch fire, it seems like the ones in e-bikes and e-scooters are more likely to at the moment. And the fire burns hot and fast- I've heard conventional extinguishers can't even put it out, though I don't know much about that. This wasn't an off-brand bike or battery, either. It was by Rad Power, a well-known and popular company.

Follow all the recommendations for charging the batteries: on a flat surface, attended, and DO NOT leave them plugged in past full charge. That can help, but since this battery was not fully charged when it exploded, I strongly recommend charging them outside if at all possible. I believe some people do it inside an enclosed charcoal grill, the round sort with a cover? The cord would have to stick out but it's still SOME sort of protection in case of fire.

Personally, I will never live in a house with one again, but I have Trauma Reasons and some people need them for cheap reliable transportation. I get that. They're here to stay. We just have to protect ourselves until the technology gets past its teething troubles.

Close your bedroom door when sleeping and when you leave the house. I lost a lot, but my room was the least damaged because my door was closed- the fire literally skipped over my room and up through the ceiling crawl-space.

Beyond that- basic fire safety, I guess. Don't leave candles unattended, etc.

Take care of yourselves, people. Trust me, you don't want to go through even a nonlethal house fire- and this was the best-case scenario.

[fabledfoxglove]

I wanna talk about fire safety bc I almost burnt my house down the other day.

Witches/pagans/anyone who enjoys an open flame:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE practice fire safety. Don’t be like me. The other day I lit a spell candle and it wasn’t finished burning before I had to go to work. I naively told myself “it only has an hour left to burn and it burned all night fine I can leave it and go to work”.

Not only was that candle not fine, it was so not fine that it broke the ceramic dish I had it on, and fell onto the floor which left a sizable scorch mark. After further investigation I found that it had also burned a part of my pillow case which was on the floor.

That’s how close I came to burning my house down. It’s only by the grace of the gods that nothing more serious happened.

So please, don’t be like me, and practice fire safety. 🔥🔥

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

have you???

[adventurelandia]

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club Magazine, 1956

[marigoldwitch]

🔥 Fire Safety Tips — For Witches 🌞

I just want to share some of my tips, as someone who has been practicing witchcraft for almost 20 years, for working with fire (as it relates to safety):

🔥 Buy a cauldron : I use mine for burning herbs, incense, candles, paper, fabric etc. I have one with just salt in it that I use to burn my small tapered candles and incense. It’s one of the most useful tools in my practice.

“Can Salt Burn? No, salt does not burn. It can melt at an extremely high temperature (800°C/1472°F), but this is unlikely to happen in everyday surroundings. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride, which come together to form a highly reactive bond.”

🔥 Don’t burn candles for more than 4 hours : Even if you’re in the room the entire time, it’s recommended that you don’t burn a candle for longer than 4 hours.

“If you burn your candle for more than 4 hours at a time, carbon will collect on the wick, and your wick will begin to "mushroom." This can cause the wick to become unstable, the flame to get too large, your candle to smoke, and soot to be released into the air and around your candle container.”

🔥 When burning things like paper, in your cauldron, fill the bottom with sand first : I’ve found that it helps avoid any flames from getting too high or out of control.

“Because its primary constituent is silica (SiO2), which is already oxidized, sand cannot burn. This is why it works as an effective firefighting method, which can extinguish fires by cutting off the oxygen supply and absorbing flammable liquids.”

🔥 Make sure that you triple check that nothing in the immediate area of any open flame is combustible or flammable : This means don’t burn something on a plate that’s sitting on an alter cloth lol. Or don’t spray anything into the air (like perfume or air freshener) around an open flame.

Be safe witches :)

[fishingrodsarecool]

friendly reminder to NEVER put water on a grease/oil fire. it will EXPLODE! thankfully, these goobers live on minecraft logic.

[wishful-seeker]

Remember when burning things inside its safer to smother the flame with a lid, sand, or dirt rather than pouring water over it. Water poured on a flame can occasionally make the flame shoot really high before going out.

[creature-wizard]

In response to anon's ask on essential oils in candles, NO it is not safe. Essential oils are EXTREMELY flammable.

Thanks, anon!

[windvexer]

I don’t think of myself as a fire unsafe person, and to experiment with oil lamps I got this $10 stock pot to help mitigate risk. But it just makes me feel more secure about regular candles, too.

And think of the cauldron symbolism opportunities.

[katy-l-wood]

You tagged your cat door post #fire safety. Will you please explain? This is something I haven't thought about.

Having your bedroom door closed at night can save your life in a house fire. But if you have pets, you might want them to be able to come and go freely, so having the door closed doesn't work. So! Pet door. It does SLIGHTLY negate the safety of a closed door, but not entirely since many house fires go up to the ceiling pretty quickly.

With a closed door you'll have precious seconds to even minutes to get yourself/your loved ones out another way. Stuff inside your room will probably still end up smoke damaged, but your life is what matters.

Here's a video that shows the difference between having your door closed vs. open: