[GSBN] Straw Bale House Fire

Wed Apr 1 06:29:12 UTC 2009

 Dear Martin, Don and everyone else,

Thanks for this information, Martin. I have a few thoughts and an experience from a few years back that may add to the discussion, particularly about whether there is a need to do anything about smoldering bales within an unopened wall. 

Back in the summer of 2003 we got a call from the fire chief of a small town south of Tucson who had gotten a report of a very large straw bale landscape wall that apparently had been burning for some time, according to the owners of the house, who had been smelling smoke for a couple of months and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The fire chief told me that they were planning to cut open the wall and wanted to know if we wanted to come down and witness what transpired. So the next day, Tony Novelli and I (and my then 4 year old grandson Joe) drove down there with a video camera, still camera, and our moisture meter for the great wall opening. The fire chief said he would be bringing their infrared scope that would let us see any hot spots in the wall. 

What we found was amazing. The fire had apparently started at an electrical box in the wall, which was subject to regular wetting from landscape irrigation sprinklers. The wall was cool there but when we took the cover plate off the box it was obvious that there had been fire there. About twenty feet away, we found a hot spot and then several others further away, indicating that the fire had been slowly creeping along the wall for a great distance, moving so slowly because there was very little oxygen available to support combustion. Yet, there was enough to continue to burn for a long distance and over a long time, even turning a corner and continuing on. Also, we noted that much of the straw in the wall was fairly wet - we tested it with our moisture meter. The heat from the slow fire was apparently enough to dry the straw out. We opened all the places we found hot spots and removed the smoldering straw - noting that whenever we cut into the wall and exposed that smoldering straw there was an increase in smoke though I don't remember seeing any actual flames. 

The lesson here is that straw is not necessarily self-extinguishing and, as Catherine observed, the use of a non-contact thermal measurement/imaging device, like those used by firefighters or energy efficiency technicians can be invaluable in locating hot spots. 

And, by the way, Joe had a fabulous day, the firefighters having given him the full tour of the fire truck they came in and having outfitted him with a fireman's helmut allowed him to drag the fire hose from the truck to the wall and even let him spray a bit of water! Tony and I had a good time too...

David Eisenberg

-----Original Message-----
From: martin hammer <mfhammer at pacbell.net>
To: (private, with public archives) Global Straw Building Network <GSBN at greenbuilder.com>
Cc: Don Fisher <fishdl48843 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:06 pm
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Straw Bale House Fire

Everyone,

Informative (and sometimes tragic) reports from everyone re: SB and fire,
initiated by John Rehorn's alert about the recent fire in a SB house in
Colorado.

I'm copying Don Fisher on this.  Don is a firefighter who gave a very good
presentation at the 2008 CASBA conference on a SB house fire he fought in
Arizona.  Everyone was glued to his presentation and it brought up much
spirited discussion.  We learned from Don and vice-versa.  Don wrote a piece
for publication in a fire-fighting periodical (Don, is there any way I or
other GSBN members could obtain that article?) and gave subsequent
presentations to firefighters about fighting fires in SB buildings.  I
believe he also presented at the COSBA conference last year (is that correct
John Rehorn?).

The biggest issue that came out of Don's interaction with the straw bale
building community, is that protocols need to be developed, and firefighters
need to be trained specifically about how to fight fires in SB buildings if
they work in districts where they exist.  There is abundant evidence that
plastered SB buildings are less of a fire hazard (more difficult to ignite,
give more time to fight) than wood frame buildings, but treating them like
wood frame buildings can cause additional fire and unnecessary damage to the
building.  Maybe even an unnecessary total loss, or unnecessary injury or
death of a fire-fighter or occupant.

Specifically I'm referring to the practice of opening a wall to extinguish
evidence of smoldering or to wet and cool known or suspected hot spots.  One
lesson Don learned in fighting the Arizona fire (Don, correct me if I'm
wrong) was that opening a plastered straw bale wall at the site of a fire is
usually unnecessary and counterproductive for the reasons we all know
(bringing oxygen and/or an ignition source to otherwise protected straw, and
breaking tight bales into very flammable loose straw).

I'm intrigued by Catherine Wanek and Pete Fust's report about using a
non-contact heat sensing device to detect hot spots in the SB walls after
the fire at their Black Range Lodge (and I thank the straw bale gods it
didn't suffer more damage).  It seems like a great way to locate and remove
heated/charred/smoldering(?) straw, while minimizing damage and repair to
the wall system.  But I have to wonder what's wrong with doing nothing to
the wall.  That is, how could it ignite if you don't give it oxygen?  And
eventually it will cool to a temperature where ignition is no longer a
concern, even if it were given oxygen.

Don, are there resources and do you think there is interest in the
fire-fighting community to develop protocols in partnership with people from
the straw bale community, for fighting fires in straw bale buildings?  Also,
I can (presumably) forward to you other e-mails from this GSBN discussion on
fire if you're interested.  Please respond to me (mfhammer at pacbell.net) so I
know you've received this.

Martin Hammer
Berkeley, California

On 3/29/09 10:00 AM, "john rehorn" <rehorn at frontier.net> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
> 
> There was a straw bale home fire on Friday near Lyons, Colorado.
> 
> http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12011181
> 
> I'm looking into the circumstances at present.  Sympathies and good
> thoughts to the Akia family.
> 
> With that said, I believe this can be an educational opportunity for
> all concerned.  How did the earthen plastered sb walls perform?  Why
> did the owner need to thaw out frozen pipes in March, especially in a
> straw bale?  There is also the need to correct erroneous assumptions
> regarding fire and sb as quickly and publicly as possible.  As you
> all know, one bad story about one straw bale house can overpower a
> thousand good ones.
> 
> Any information about this unfortunate event is very welcomed.  Also,
> if the subject of this house crops up on your internet presence,
> please educate the public in a good way.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John
> 
> John Rehorn 
> Executive Director
> Colorado Straw Bale Association
> www.coloradostrawbale.org
> coloradostrawbale at yahoo.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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