Ray Meyette, of Florida, lost his lifetime collection of tools and inventions when a fan shorted out and caused a fire that destroyed his workshop.

The Fire

"The fan was in the shop where I normally work. I had some repairs to do on a motor home that was way off in the other end of the property. I didn't know anything until I smelled the smoke. To make matters worse, there was a tar machine outside on the street, and I assumed the smell was that. So I didn't realize what was happening until it was totally out of control.

"Normally when an electric motor shorts out, it just shorts and smokes and burns. But this fan had a plastic cover instead of metal. And when it shorted out, the heat disintegrated the plastic and flaming pieces of plastic fell through the wire shelves and landed on the chain saws and the chain saw fuel in a plastic container. The sparks ate a hole in the plastic container and the thing exploded. That's the thing that really caused the fire.

"When I went to look at the fire, there was this mass of flame — four to five feet wide from front to back and 3 feet thick — running across the bottom of the shop and up one wall and across the roof. The gas can was probably a bomb and splattered fuel all over. But it's almost unbelievable that it could create that much flame.

"I knew I couldn't put it out, but my plan was to try and slow it down so I grabbed the hose. But the flame was so intense when I came to the front of the building that I couldn't stand there. I gave that up in a hurry."

On The Loss Of His Possessions

"I had all my music out there. I've been fooling with music since I was 12 years old — guitar, violin, organ — all by ear. I had some of this stuff on tape and some of it was actually recovered from an old record-making machine I had way back in the '30s.

"I fool with electronics as a hobby, and I had a stack of wiring diagrams and schematics two inches thick. Diagrams I invented myself. No way can I ever replace that, as I don't remember some of it. It was done over the last 50 years.

"When I got in there and found pieces of things — a little bit at a time — it smarts. I found things I didn't even know I had, and they were destroyed.

"I should have been totally upset, but I'm not because I still say I'm lucky. The fact that I wasn't in it, in the first place, and the fact that it wasn't the house. As bad as it was, it could have been worse."

What You Can Learn From Ray's Experience Turn off portable electrical appliances if you are not nearby to keep an eye on them. Unplug them when they are not in use. Fire spreads quickly. People often overestimate their ability to extinguish a fire and underestimate the amount of time they need to escape. Consider storing important papers and valuables in a fire-resistant home safe or bank deposit box.

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