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  #11  
Old 10-09-2007, 11:53 AM
tfischer tfischer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Doctor

Anyone who goes camping knows about open fire bans.


Oh I know all about open fire bans. I've just never heard so much emphesis about fires regarding model rocketry except via Fred's posts, so I'm assuming this is a particular problem out in California...

-Tim
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  #12  
Old 10-09-2007, 12:00 PM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tfischer
Oh I know all about open fire bans. I've just never heard so much emphesis about fires regarding model rocketry except via Fred's posts, so I'm assuming this is a particular problem out in California...

-Tim


The state fire marshall (or whatever their top level office is called) was a big hurdle when it came to even allowing the motors to be sold. They have to be careful or the hobby might get banned all together in CA. Many parts of California are very dry and prone to fire. Didn't you watch Emergency! when you were growing up? Who wanted to be Gage? Who wanted to be DeSoto? Did anybody ever want to be Kelly? I didn't want to be Dixie, but I sure wanted her.
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  #13  
Old 10-09-2007, 12:24 PM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tfischer
I've noticed your posts and attachments make a huge deal about brush fires. Is that a huge problem out in Cali?
C'mon, Tim. Are you saying you never watch TV news? It's pretty hard to avoid all the stories about California wildfires the past few years. They've had them elsewhere as well, including here in Texas, but California - the entire state - is pretty much a perpetual matchstick.

When I first started reading web forums a few years ago, and heard about all the headaches of flying in California, I thought it was just California big-brother bureaucracy run amok. But when I framed it in the context of wildfires destroying billions of dollars of homes and killing people, I began to appreciate the fire marshal's perspective _and_ authority.

...

As an aside, it seems California is a state of biblical proportions. Besides wildfires, they have issues with earthquakes, mudslides and pestilence, too. Makes you wonder what the attraction is

Doug
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  #14  
Old 10-09-2007, 12:49 PM
tfischer tfischer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Sams
C'mon, Tim. Are you saying you never watch TV news?


Did I mention I live in a cardboard box?

Seriously, I obviously knew about the wildfires, but had no idea it was that volatile, that a simple crashing rocket would require someone to literally run to the rocket to avoid certain disaster...

-Tim
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  #15  
Old 10-09-2007, 02:05 PM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tfischer
Seriously, I obviously knew about the wildfires, but had no idea it was that volatile, that a simple crashing rocket would require someone to literally run to the rocket to avoid certain disaster...
I grew up in central Kentucky, and snowy weather was a rare occurence, especially rare for any useful accumulation which would get us out of school or allow sledding. One uncommon winter in the 70's, just after Christmas, we had such as storm, and were out sledding and freezing as kids will do. Getting thoroghly chilled to the bone, we decided to light one of the discarded Christmas trees awaiting pickup on the side of the road.

Boy! Did we ever get a lesson in tinder box fires! This thing went up in seconds. The comical scene in the movie Christmas Vacation was not far from the truth. It was definite deflagration bordering on detonation Of course, as the evening wore on, we had to gather up all the other dead trees on the street and burn them, too


Doug
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  #16  
Old 10-09-2007, 03:02 PM
tfischer tfischer is offline
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On that note, this video will freak you out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPyrJbKJpIY

-Tim
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  #17  
Old 10-09-2007, 03:18 PM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Default [OT] Fire safety

Quote:
Originally Posted by tfischer
On that note, this video will freak you out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPyrJbKJpIY
I saw a piece on a "COPS"-like show where a small fire in a convenience store quickly spread nearly entrapping the store patrons. I also recall the video from the New England night club a couple years ago. Fires like these move very fast.

Inspired, we've had a fire safety meeting at our house to discuss the key points about getting out. We talked about getting your face all the way down on the floor for fresh air, using your hand to test the temperature of closed doors before opening, and having a designated meeting place outside the house.

And with today's discussion, it's probably time to have that meeting again.

Doug
Taking mental note to have family meeting...
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  #18  
Old 10-10-2007, 08:50 AM
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Shreadvector Shreadvector is offline
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I was offline most of yesterday, so I'm just now responding.


Fires are bad anywhere where it does not rain for 8 months at a time. The plants get tinder dry. We avoid flying near large amounts of dry brush, but there is always some small amoount of growth on the dirt area we use for launching at our park. Other parks have grassy areas that don't get watered, so they turn dry and brown in the "fire season". Our old launch site (Mile Square Park Hobby Area, now long gone) was like that.

The advice you quoted is from our club materials. It is intended to remind folks that their rocket is THEIR rocket. The club is there to help and we provide club launch pads and club fire extinguishers, but we do not want folks to just shove stuff on the launch pads and then sit in a lawn chair as their own rocket has a problem. It is basic simple and logical advice that if YOUR rocket goes unstable or craches, that YOU need to deal with it. The means grabbing a fire extinguisher or jug of water (club or personal) and RUNNING to the crash site as soon as it is safe to approach and extinuishing the wreakage and if there are any plants or weeds on fire, extinguishing them as well before any fire can spread.

Why would we want to tell flyers to just sit there and do nothing if their own rockets crashed? Waiting is dangerous since a fire can spread.

Now, the regular part of the park we fly in had lawns and trees and sprinklers that keep them very green. We only launch on a lawn area a couple of months a year when our normal dirt site is in use by the Renaissance Fair. Fire is virtually impossible on the green lawn, but we still bring extinguishers. The goose poo is more of a hazard. Massive amounts of goose poo....


Quote:
Originally Posted by tfischer
Fred,

I've noticed your posts and attachments make a huge deal about brush fires. Is that a huge problem out in Cali? (I'm particularly thinking of the one you posted a couple weeks ago telling people they had to RUN to their rocket with a bucket of water if it crashed...)

I only ask because I launched a lot of rockets in my youth, and had a number of them fail/crash in spectaular ways, but have not once even come close to starting a fire, even a small one... The places we'd launch would be typically an athletic complex or groomed park, but there were often farm fields off to one side where the rockets would sometimes crash into...

Just wondering...

-Tim
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Southern California Rocket Association, NAR Section 430
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  #19  
Old 10-10-2007, 01:15 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shreadvector
The goose poo is more of a hazard. Massive amounts of goose poo....


Yeah, that's for sure.

I bring a second pair of shoes to put on when leaving the flying field.

Bob
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  #20  
Old 10-22-2007, 01:32 PM
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Bob H Bob H is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob H
I flew two D13-5's last year as part of the NAR old motor testing program. The date code indicated they were made in 1969.

I flew them in a Goblin clone and they both performed perfectly. Liftoff was much faster than the same model using a D12.

Nozzle size is much bigger than a D12. I still have one more and a couple of D13-3's that I want to fly before the end of year.

I never had one CATO but will admit that I never flew a lot of them.
So, of course I had to mention this and last Saturday I had a D13-3 CATO in a Rubicon. The date code was from January 16, 1970.

It got about 25 ft up and just flamed out the front. The rocket looks ok from the outside But I haven't had a chance to really look at the central tube. I'm sure it got plenty hot in there.
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