A disaster averted with the help of a good light

Tythagoras

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
11
Location
Eureka, CA
Hello all,

A week ago, I had a little problem.

I went to work to get a free flu shot. Upon returning home, there was smoke pouring out of the vents to the crawlspace under the house. The dog came running out of the door the instant that it was open. (She turned out to be okay) The reason why was obvious when the door opened a few more inches, there was very dense white smoke filling the entire living space of the house.

This is where my modified Minimag came in very handy. It gave enough brightness that I could see where I was going through the smoke. A dimmer flashlight wouldn't have been very helpful. I did wish it had less spillbeam, though. It would light up the smoke in front of my face at the same time it was illuminating what I was pointing it at. Not a huge problem, but not one that I had given much thought to previously.

What I discovered was that the floor heater had been left on, and a carpet had been left on top of it. I put some water on the smoldering floor heater, turned it off and set up some fans to extract the smoke.

I came back to the heater once some fans were in place and the windows opened, and found that it was still smoking. "That's odd" I thought, since I had poured a substantial amount of water on it. I poured some more water on it and found that it didn't affect the smoke production much. A chill ran down my spine when the realization hit me: the fire was still going, and it wasn't where thought it was at all. It was under the house, in the crawlspace.

I had never been in the crawlspace before, owing to the fact that the opening to it was blocked by a sewer pipe in such a way that only skinny people could get through it. I haven't been a skinny person in six or seven years. I didn't think of that, but grabbed a slide sprayer, filled it with water and headed to the opening to the crawlspace.

It turned out that in the last year, I had lost enough weight that I could squeeze into the crawlspace, drag my sprayer in behind me and fight the fire. My Minimag saved the day here, it was plenty bright to see exactly where to go and what hazards were between me and where I needed to be. Again, a dimmer flashlight would have made things much more difficult. I saw the heater about 20 ft away from me and began crawling toward it, dragging the sprayer tank behind me. I got close enough to where I could hear the crackling of a fire very much still burning.

It was only now that the thought of calling the fire department occurred to me. It could take ten minutes to arrive if they were on another call, and this was at a critical point. I continued on. If someone else called in reinforcements, so much the better, but for now this was my fight. The fire on the heater had caused the wood all around the heater to char and begin burning on its own. No flames just yet, though.

The smoke turned to steam when the water hit the charred wood, the heat wasn't as intense as I thought it would have been, but it was hot enough to make me worried the fire had spread further than the extent of the charring would suggest.

After I had sprayed the charred wood with water, all there was to do was wait and see if the smoke persisted. I turned out my minimag, partly out of conserving batteries and partly out of curiosity. The darkness made me realize that if my light had failed, it would have been a very hard fight to even find my way to the heater. Adding to the problems I would have had was the fact that the smoke was thick enough to make navigation a real problem. Making a retreat would have been rather difficult, had the situation necessitated it.

As it turned out, it didn't burn further than the visibly charred area. That was good, since there was some flammable material not too far above the spot the charring was moving into. The smoke stopped coming, and then the steam stopped too. I got out from under the house and called the Fire Department so I could get a professional opinion of whether the fire was truly out or not.

They arrived a few minutes later, and inspected the damage and looked under the house. When the lead firefighter looked under the house, I expected him to pull out a Surefire, Pelican, UKE, or some other high-end light. I didn't recognize it, but what he pulled out seemed to be a 2-D cell light made of plastic with a switch that worked by twisting the bezel. I was pointing things out with my own flashlight, so we got some incidental side by side beamshots. My modified minimag (using a NexGen 500 with a UX1K emitter) threw just as well, blew it away in the overall light category and was much, much whiter. If he noticed, he didn't give any indication of it.

They inspected the heater from the inside with a thermal imager, and found that everything had cooled down very well, and not hot spots. I didn't get to ask about the battery life of the thermal imager. I was afraid to ask about the cost.

Overall, the only damage done was to the heater itself. No big loss, as I hated that thing anyway. I wondered if my mother/deadbeat-roommate-who-does-my-laundry would ever forget to turn it off. She did. The dog's favorite toy was a casualty of the fire. The dog now searches the house and whines. It's a little sad. It's also a little funny.

Lessons learned:

A light in your pocket or on your belt is vastly more useful than the one sitting in the drawer.

Brighter is usually better in an emergency.

A backup light is a must. (I didn't have one and realized I should have)

My slide sprayer is much more useful if it is kept nearby and if it's tank is full.

Another slide sprayer might not be a bad idea. Nor would a few dry chemical extinguishers for electrical fires. Nitrogen, maybe.

Firefighting is tiring work; a little physical conditioning goes a long way during emergencies.

The question now is what flashlight should I get as a backup? I considered the surefire U2 ultra, but the complaints about the doughnut beam and ugly tint problems on such an expensive light turned me away from that path. The front runners seem to be the ElektroLumens XM-3 and the Pelican M6 2390 LED.

The XM-3 has the advantage of being easily modded, well constructed, and it takes AA size cells. I have long ago standardized on AA cells for almost all of my battery operated equipment. I have heard that it's regulator, while being very flat, doesn't push the emitter very hard, but I have no point of reference. Quickbeam hasn't reviewed the NexGen 500 with the UX1K emitter, and I don't expect him to, but that means I don't have a benchmark to compare my light to without actually doing side by side beamshots. Since people say it's easy to modify, I might just put a wiz2 and a good emitter in it, though that raises the overall cost a bit.

The Pelican has the advantage of just looking like a million bucks. That not lost on me, I like sharp looking equipment. I also like equipment that works real well. Quickbeam's review suggests that it does indeed work very well, and with flat regulation too. It's one of the brightest factory LED lights, so I would probably be happy with that. The biggest problem is that it uses those awful CR123A cells. As much as I use my lights, the cost of 123s would be a big annoyance. Since e-lectronics.com has some 3 volt regulated cells, that might be just the ticket. Rechargeables in the light, and some primaries as spares. Brings the cost to over $100, though. Perhaps not bad considering it need no mods, as it already has an excellent regulator, and at least a good emitter.

I am also considering the McLux III PD. It's pricy, but it seems like a really good little light.

I have a smartfire and some Xnovas coming from Emilion's Workshop, so I will have something to experiment with soon.

Any other lights I should consider? Other comments?
 

paulr

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
10,832
If your primary is AA powered and you want a small AA-powered backup, the Fenix L1P is all the rage these days (no pun intended). I wouldn't worry about battery cost for your backup assuming it's a backup and you're mainly using your primary, though. How about a Streamlight Strion (rechargeable) as primary and either a Fenix (small) and/or Surefire G2/P61 (powerful) as backup? Or the PM6 you mentioned, or a TL3 which is a little bigger and will have more reach.
 

greenLED

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
13,263
Location
La Tiquicia
Lesson learned:
Call 911 upon seeing smoke at my place. IMHO, the crawlspace stunt was unnecessary and potentially lethal. Untrained people can do the weirdest things in a stress situation (like forgetting to call 911 to begin with). For example, I responded to a fire at the apartment I used to work with, only to find out one of the neighbors had piled bark chips :eek: on top of the burning stove...

Anyway, I'm glad everything turned out OK.

Incidentally, in serious smoke (where you literally can't see anything), a modded minimag simply won't cut it.
 

Tythagoras

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
11
Location
Eureka, CA
greenLED said:
Lesson learned:
Call 911 upon seeing smoke at my place. IMHO, the crawlspace stunt was unnecessary and potentially lethal. Untrained people can do the weirdest things in a stress situation (like forgetting to call 911 to begin with). For example, I responded to a fire at the apartment I used to work with, only to find out one of the neighbors had piled bark chips :eek: on top of the burning stove...

Anyway, I'm glad everything turned out OK.

Incidentally, in serious smoke (where you literally can't see anything), a modded minimag simply won't cut it.

Quite true, though the smoke wasn't very thick in the crawlspace as it was in the house. It was however, a lapse of judgement on my part to have gotten so far before calling for help. For whatever reason, it never occurred to me to do so.

Out of curiosity, will any light cut through serious smoke? I figured that was the primary job of the thermal imager they brought out.
 

CLHC

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Messages
6,001
Location
PNW|WA|USA
I have friends who are firefighters, and they said that in "serious smoke," thick black smoke and all, no lights they have works. Basically pitch black. Now THAT'S scarry!

The Thermal Imager comes into play I suppose? I've seen one of those Bullard TI. Really High-Tech stuff!
 

yuandrew

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
Messages
1,323
Location
Chino Hills, CA
Yeah, if the fire is in an area difficult for you to safely access/get out, calling the fire dept is wiser than trying to fight a fire youself and getting trapped in a confined space.

There was a house fire up the street from me about two years ago. I remember seeing firefighters carrying Streamlight Lightboxes into the building while fighting the fire. Even then, it was difficult to see the light through the smoke; you could only make out a dim, yellow beam (I was standing across the street and looking through a shattered window)

In case you never used one before; a dry chemical extinguisher will make a thick (and sour tasting) greenish-yellow and white cloud that hangs in the air for a while. Not something you may want in a confined area even with a bright light.

(My friend was messing around one time and he discharged an entire 20lb commercial dry chemical extinguisher in his garage. We were chokeing on the cloud for several minuites before we could find our way through the "fog" to the opened side door that was about ten feet from where we were.)
 

TonkinWarrior

Enlightened
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
510
Location
Contra-SheepleVille
Good post, Tythagoras, and Welcome to CPF. Glad your (a) dog and (b) house are all OK (and in that order!).

While LEDs' many advantages (durability, etc.) make them preferable for most daily illumination chores we (civilians) face, there is DEFINITELY a role for good incans. The situation you encountered (smoke, etc.) is a classic illustration.

LEDs are poor at cutting through smoke, haze, fog, etc. A focused incan is the ticket. That's why firemen usually pack 'em. Pelican, Streamlight, Underwater Kinetics, etc. make some solid (usually plastic) incans that run on C and AA batteries.

OTOH, don't dismiss incans driven by 123 batteries. Those batteries ain't exotic/expensive if you buy 'em at the right places (i.e., not grocery stores). The Surefire A2 is the top compact-sized incan for EDC, and its regulated.. The Pelican M6 incan is a bargain. The SF E2E is a little classic, with great add-on versatility. The Streamlight 1L and 2L TaskLights are similar bargains with incan and LED combinations.

I keep a few big ol' MAG C and D lights around for incan-type tasks. In fact, I keep some near the front and back doors precisely for grabbing in emergencies like yours. However, while the Mini-Mag is handy, it's the least desireable in terms of beam quality, runtime, and bulb durability. Pelican makes some AA and AAA pocket lights of similar size but superior quality.

Check out some of these lights on BrightGuy's website, then read analyses at FlashLightReviews.
 

IsaacHayes

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
5,876
Location
Missouri
While still an LED, the luxeon saberlite (made by pelican?) fires the luxeon back into the reflector, so there is no side-spill, just a "laser" beam of all hot spot. Probably the inova lights with the TIROS would do the same thing, or a new generation KL1/KL3 with the TIR optic that has very little side spill.

As far as backup, the M6 has a great reflector, and could become your new favorite.
If I didn't have so much $$$ invested in NiMH, I would probably have some 123a lights and some recharable 123a cells.
 

Tythagoras

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
11
Location
Eureka, CA
I appreciate the input, guys.

The 123A incans seem to have the problem that they draw a great deal of current before they ignite and it settles down. This could trip the overcurrent protection on regulated cells, and even Pilas wouldn't drive many of them at full capacity. Finding out which ones will work or not with Pilas seems to be a little "hit-or-miss" just now. I want to avoid the use of primary cells of any kind, since I have become accustomed to the relatively cheap power provided by my aging stockpile of NiMH cells. I won't get away from them entirely, since they should work wonderfully for a backup stockpile.

The age of the AA cell in flashlights seems to be waning, and I need to recommend a flashlight for my mom, who is a private security guard and needs a good one. (and a backup)

The Inova T3 has been on my short list for months, and now that a real rechargable option exists for it, It may just become my primary light. (or mom's) But the PM6 out throws it, and has a much better spillbeam. (I'm going to try to not make a habit of running into burning buildings if I can help it)

Thanks paulr, for the tip on the Streamlight Strion, I hadn't considered it since the other streamlights I have used (we use stingers at work, and I hate them) have that annoying side switch. Since the Strion uses a tail switch, it might be just the ticket. I would much prefer a clickie, but my Inova X1's switch doesn't bother me much so it might just work out.

I think that I will use an LED like the PM6 LED or the T3 as my first EDC light with some spare cells, and a rechargeable incan like the Strion further back on my belt. Maybe something dim and diffuse in my pocket for close-up tasks, and maybe . . .

I carried an unmodified minimag for years, blissfully unaware of the advantages of the upgrades and other lights. Flashaholism is expensive, but sometimes only flashahol will do the job.
 

greenLED

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
13,263
Location
La Tiquicia
Tythagoras said:
...I need to recommend a flashlight for my mom, who is a private security guard and needs a good one. (and a backup)

The Inova T3 has been on my short list for months, and now that a real rechargable option exists for it, It may just become my primary light. (or mom's) But the PM6 out throws it, and has a much better spillbeam. (I'm going to try to not make a habit of running into burning buildings if I can help it)

In no specific order of importance (they're all about 2x123 in size), look into:
  • Pelican M6 incan (or LED): nice beams, won't work well with rechargeables (unless you use the regulated LED version).
  • Pila lights: amazingly versatile, sturdy construction, run off li-ion rechargeables or primaries, option of LED tailcaps, etc; you can get them in 2 to 4x123 size.
  • Strion: small, rechargeable (drop-in charger), bright (the Corrections Officers and some State Troopers around here carry them)
  • SF A2: the only regulated incan out there, with LED option; new rechargeable options are available but with very limited runtimes.
  • SF L4: 5W Lux, very bright, "wall of light"; can use Pila rechargeables
Great sources of info on these (and many more) lights are theledmuseum.org and flashlightreviews.com Good luck finding a good light for your mom!
 

Greg

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
170
Location
Toronto, ON, Canada
Although it probably won't cut through really thick smoke a Propoly 4AA Luxeon by Streamlight is a kick *** light and for a really good price as well.
 

lightmaster

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 19, 2005
Messages
14
Location
Singapore
It looks like thiis justifies aother light right now :p

Its a good thing you had that light with you... could have lost the property or worse.
 
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