FIRE! Close Call
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:30 pm
My employer/ friend has spent the whole week cleaning farm equipment and putting things away for the winter.
After washing the Massy 360 yesterday evening he drove it about a mile before parking it in the barn across from our shop.
About 15 mins later as we were all leaving work I joked with him about trying to burn the barn down as we looked across the road what looked like steam was coming up out of the doorway. As I ran for the barn about 400 feet away the smoke turned black and I knowed there was trouble.
The dash and hood were on fire and the fuel lines were melted and diesel was pouring everywhere catching the hay on the floor on fire. The wires had shorted while burning and the starter was running the tractor forward pushing my 63 cub through the barn....
I knew there was no hope for the 160 year old barn or anything else if we didn't get the tractor out side.
I bumped the shifter to neutral and yelled push, 3 of us pushed while 3 others ran toward the shop for fire extinguishers.
After clearing the barn door they had returned and put out the blaze which erupted 2 more times and needed hosed down again. 3 of us ran back inside to work the diesel soaked floor area covering it with saw dust until we could rig a garden hose to water things down....
I'd never seen anything catch so fast and almost out of control so quick.
Larry thanked me this morning for quick thinking, one more minute inside and all would have been lost.
I didn't tell him I was kind of worried about my cub all the while, a big round bale of hay had me trapped from going out the other end of the barn.
Looks like I have a winter project now so if any of you have any leads on where to start looking for Massy 360 parts please send me a link. Looks like wiring, dash, gauges, steering wheel, part of the hood area and power steering hoses just to start with.
After washing the Massy 360 yesterday evening he drove it about a mile before parking it in the barn across from our shop.
About 15 mins later as we were all leaving work I joked with him about trying to burn the barn down as we looked across the road what looked like steam was coming up out of the doorway. As I ran for the barn about 400 feet away the smoke turned black and I knowed there was trouble.
The dash and hood were on fire and the fuel lines were melted and diesel was pouring everywhere catching the hay on the floor on fire. The wires had shorted while burning and the starter was running the tractor forward pushing my 63 cub through the barn....
I knew there was no hope for the 160 year old barn or anything else if we didn't get the tractor out side.
I bumped the shifter to neutral and yelled push, 3 of us pushed while 3 others ran toward the shop for fire extinguishers.
After clearing the barn door they had returned and put out the blaze which erupted 2 more times and needed hosed down again. 3 of us ran back inside to work the diesel soaked floor area covering it with saw dust until we could rig a garden hose to water things down....
I'd never seen anything catch so fast and almost out of control so quick.
Larry thanked me this morning for quick thinking, one more minute inside and all would have been lost.
I didn't tell him I was kind of worried about my cub all the while, a big round bale of hay had me trapped from going out the other end of the barn.
Looks like I have a winter project now so if any of you have any leads on where to start looking for Massy 360 parts please send me a link. Looks like wiring, dash, gauges, steering wheel, part of the hood area and power steering hoses just to start with.