Font ResizeBy Hiroko Sato
MediaNews
AYER -- The new wooden bar was supposed to turn the empty basement in Michael Field's Main Street building into a sports pub.
On June 19, following months of renovation work, the bar was being installed inside what was set to become Sidetracked Pub, according to the state Fire Marshal's Office. Left behind there that night were dirty rags used to stain the furniture.
By 12:30 a.m., the stain-soaked fabrics spontaneously combusted. The flames quickly spread throughout the three-story mixed-use building, forcing seven adults and two children to flee the five-alarm fire only with the shirts on their backs.
Field and his business partner, Keith Bradley, had imagined customers coming through the pub's doors within two weeks. Instead, they were now looking at a charred basement barely supporting the top floors.
"We were so close," Field said while standing outside the ruined building at 63 Main St. on June 20. "The flooring was going in today."
Field is hardly alone in experiencing heartbreak from fire that started in the midst of do-it-yourself home-improvement projects. Dirty rags are a well-known source of fire as they are used to apply paints and stains that contain volatile organic compounds that make the products flammable, according to the Fire Marshal's Office.
Over a 20-day period between late May through early June alone, dirty rags caused fire in four Massachusetts towns, including Ayer. On
Now, fire chiefs in these communities are joining Fire Marshal Stephen Coan in warning people of the danger of careless disposal of oily rags.
Rag fires are especially tragic, said Jennifer Mieth, spokesperson for the Fire Marshal's Office, because homes being improved are reduced to ashes in a matter of hours.
"One minute you are making your home better, and a few hours later you and your family are homeless," said Coan in a press release warning of the fire danger. "Taking the extra time to safely handle the fire hazard that oily rags pose can lead to truly enjoying your hard work."
Dirty rags can spontaneously combust because liquid containing VOC -- such as stains, varnishes and paint thinners -- produces heat in the process of drying, according to Coan's office. The air becomes trapped between the layers of folded or balled cloth, which itself is combustible.
Once rags tossed on the floor catch fire, it spreads like flames that started in any other way, said Ayer Fire Chief Robert Pedrazzi.
"Every fire starts small," Mieth said.
Pedrazzi said people need to pay attention to the warnings on the containers of paints, stains and other VOC-based solutions.
"The cans are clearly marked that there is a danger of it," Pedrazzi said.
Many people also "don't understand the phenomenon of spontaneous combustion," Coan said in a phone interview. Dirty rags caused 167 fires in Massachusetts over the past 10 years, and 128 of them resulted in structural damage, Coan said. Dirty-rag fires spike in summer because it's a season for home improvements.
Coan's office is reminding people that oil or gas-soaked rags need to be hung outdoors to dry or spread out flat and never should be left in a pile. Dry rags should be stored in a small, airtight, noncombustible container with a tight-fitting lid, such as an old paint can. The rags should be completely covered with a solution of water and an oil-breakdown detergent.
For information about proper disposal of oily rags, look for information under Fire Safety Topics on the state Department of Fire Service's website at http://www.mass.gov/eopss/agencies/dfs/dfs2/osfm/pubed/fs-topics/fs-topics-a/disposal-of-oily-rags.html.
