Saturday, August 05, 2006

truth is stranger than fiction

Yesterday morning, I went to my usual Friday morning gym class. I think I have mentioned before how I go to an energetic class involving boxing and running and a muscly instructor. Although, being married, I never notice the instructor's muscles. Much.

So yesterday I breezed into the gym, only to notice a distinct acrid smell in the air. There was a smoky scent, and another woman asked the instructor, "What is that awful smell?" It turns out there had been a fire the previous day. This fire started when some towels in the cupboard spontaneously combusted!

The towels had been used by the massage therapist who comes to the gym, and although they had been washed, apparently there was some residual oil in them. The towels had then been tumble dried, and stacked in the cupboard while still slightly warm. They began to smoulder. Smoke was eventually seen coming from the cupboard, and as soon as the doors were opened, the fire took hold in earnest. The owner, who was either incredibly foolish or incredibly brave (depending on how you look at it), picked up the stack of burning towels, which was not yet ablaze top and bottom, and ran outside. As he threw the towels onto the footpath, the extra oxygen to the now separated towels caused them to burn up in a WHOOSH of flames. It was a Towelling Inferno.

There's a lesson in this story somewhere...... maybe - if you see smoke coming from a cupboard, tell someone else, then leave the building quickly? No, that's not it. I'm not quite sure what it is, but someone's bound to know. John Cowart?

10 comments:

Motherkitty said...

When you see smoke, get a fire extinguisher???

Call for the fire department???

Call Ripley's Believe It or Not???

Who would really believe that towels could spontaneously combust after having been used by a massage therapist???

Something sounds fishy (smoky) to me. Did the owner have fire insurance?

What happened to the muscle-bound instructor? You've left us hanging.

Anonymous said...

I've heard of this happening in the dryer, but the cupboard???

Jellyhead said...

thetanexterior (or The Force - not sure who to refer to you as!),

You're welcome to post this story.

I had a look at The Whig, and it looks like a really interesting blog. I'm not sure how the towel story will fit in amongst the intelligent political commentaries, but it's your call!

Regards,
Jellyhead

John Cowart said...

Yes, there is a lesson to be learned here. And since I'm called upon speciffically to relay this wisdom, here it is:

Stay out of gyms and hang out at the donut shop instead. That's how I maintain my slim boyish figure.

Thus endeth today's lesson.

Jellyhead said...

John, you never fail to come up with the goods! THANK YOU for clarifying the lesson to be learnt here.... (trundling off to find a cinnamon donut)

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

For smoking towels a fire extinguisher would have been better than carrying the pile outside. But we just react fast sometimes without thinking of the consequences of what might happen to us while reacting...like the towels going up in a blaze in our face. Luckily that didn't happen to this person...or did it?

What happend to the instructor with the muscles? Or was that just thrown in there to get us to continue reading? *LOL*

Kerri said...

Good grief....the things that start fires....amazing! I'm glad the owner was not badly burned. That could've been disastrous.
We have to be careful when putting hay in the barn. The hay has to be dry or it could spontaneously combust. This causes a lot of barn fires.
Wouldn't want the big red barn that you love so much to burn, now would we?
Towelling inferno...oh you're so good with words Jelly LOL
So....what DID happen to the muscly instructor???

TUFFENUF said...

OK, Ok, I know. The muscle bound instructor was sneaking a smoke and had to extinguish it amongst the towels. I never heard of towels combusting. I better go and check my laundry.

Mackey said...

Dang!! I knew the gyms were a dangerous place!!!
I am at the donut shop with John C!lol!

Franny said...

You're not joking???!!! OMG!