House next door burned to the ground tonight.

[cantridenuf]

Out cooking chicken on my deck and looked up to see her going up in flames. It was engulfed so quickly that there would have been no way to stop it. The owners were not at home at the time.

It was designed like an 1870's school house complete with bell.




Had to get a motorcycle picture in here to keep it relevant to the culture.

[Cajunrider]

Wow....Being a firefighter, that first pic scared the heck out of me! Just looking at the picture, my first guess would be an electrical fire in the attic or second floor. That's just a guess looking at the burn pattern. Other firefighters, what would your first guess be??

[pirate]

All I can say is WOW! Looks like it went up incredibly fast. Too bad for the owners, looks like it was a neat building.

[ringadingh]

It sure looks like a hot fire, there wouldn't be much left after that one.

[macmac]

Looks odd to me. I suspect arson. I am not familar with the area and can't tell if there is a cellar.

If the prevailing winds are out of the Nor West the pic view is from the south east.

The trees show the winds normally come from the back of the house and blow by the ft last, yet the wind in this is reversed from the norm and it seems a calmer wind over all.

Maybe if there is cellars some thing caught fire in the ft end of the house as the first 2 windows on our left appear to me to have been engaged before anything else, and on the first floor. Some thing in the cellar might have led to this.

That took out the bell tower, and entered the 2nd story. One thing that bothers me a lot is the back wall in fluid flames, which should have burned last.

Electrical is a good bet too, since that type of fire can use wiring like a fuse.

I will never get to see this place and so will never know how my opinion stacks up.

So noted it for you Cajunrider (terrebonne_nomad)

If no arson is discoverd and if thee is a cellar, I would say the fire began in the cellar towards the front, buned into the 1st fllor and burnded into the 2nd, then engulfed the 2nd.
Iit looks very fast to me as well.

total chaos which feeds fire.

I am pretty sure it wasn't lightning..... it does appear to be similar to baloon const, but i would think that was banned by law and code.. But i have never been in that area...

[cantridenuf]

When I first saw it the flames were in the area of the bell tower on the left side of photo. There was no cellar in the house and very few interior walls - very open floor plan. A loft was in the back of the house (right side of photo.) The house was built in the late 80's early 90's. Hardly any wind yesterday evening.

[macmac]

That explains a few things i couldn't know, but the path is still correct..

I can see the wind was backwards and light at the time.. So light, that the fire may have created the draft I do see, to the back of the house.

This structure was ment to burn fast by the way it was built, in the event of a fire... Not that anyone would want too, but that place was, and was is correct now a tinder box as made as you state.

Was the exteior a vinal clad? What WAS the back wall like before. Most curious about why the rear back wall would flow flames like that..

It appears as the fire made the 2nd story back end and then ran down the outside wall.

Even in the 2nd pic the 1s floor still isn't on fire that much, so the fire came to the 2nd story rear and then flowed down the outside back wall some how???? really strange if you ask me.

[macmac]

I haven't any real interest and am not a fire fighter. What I am is a woodland skills educator when a student is willing...

I can and dio start fire with a bow drill in 120 seconds every time. i know about fire well enough water or snow are not a problem even with old methods... No matches or lighters.

[Cajunrider]

Bob, Let us know what the Fire Marshall or arson investigator comes up with. Thanks.

[cantridenuf]

Will do Cajun.

Mac the exterior was all wood siding. You're right - it was a tinder box.

[macmac]

I thought there could be some wild guessing thrown about.. maybe not.

Just the same that rear wall is fishy to me as well. Wood don't burn down that way, and the back of the house isn't where the first started IMO.

These things are not usually made public either, unless it is a little town where things become common knowledge, so if you come by a reasonable truth I would like to know how accurate I am.

There is a long story I have concerning a fire, and I was a suspect!

I am willing to relate it openly and did prove the cause was lightning. If I hadn't I would be doing hard time today.

I just don't know if anyone would want that story.

Another thing beside a woodland skill educator is I was a car tech a long time. My oil lamps are no more than primitve carbs, as that house was. The difference is my wicks burn up and not the lamp bodies. That house was one engine and one big carb and it was the fuel as well.

I think there was another fuel source too. What is debateable is the source for ignition. I know that wasn't lightning.

[lw]

Mice with matches. . . .

[macmac]

Naw mice ain't got thumbs, they use a bow drill..

[Jared]

Wow. That's a crazy fire. I'm glad no one was home.

[trip]

That looks like a 80's vintage Honda V45 or V65 in that second pic. It's hard to tell because the rider has his leg over the engine and I can't see the pipes.

I used to own a 1983 Honda V45. Good bike.