As Billy Joel famously sang, “We didn’t start the fire! It was always burning since the world’s been turning!” But occasionally, someone actually does start a fire after making a mindless mistake. And the consequence might be losing their home…
Firefighters on Reddit have been recalling the most ridiculous ways they’ve ever seen people start house fires, so we’ve gathered some of their facepalm-worthy stories below. We all know that it’s important to blow out candles before going to sleep or leaving the house, but apparently, that’s far from the only mistake you can make around fire. So enjoy scrolling through this list, and be sure to upvote the tales that make you want to invest in one more fire extinguisher, just in case!
#41
My uncle was FDNY and they had a call for smoke coming out of a house. They show up bang on the door, no answer. End up breaking the door down. There’s a family in the living room with some kind of pit in the middle and they were roasting a goat over open coals.
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9points
#42
My father lived in a rented apartment. The landlord lived in the apartment beneath him.. My father had switched the fuse off the oven off, because he had done some electrical work.
He also put some receipts on the oven. In the meantime, the landlord saw the flipped off fuse (located on the basement) and flipped it on.
We wondered why it smelled burned and we discovered that the oven was on, and had burned the paper to ash.
Amazingl, it did not really burn, the paper just utnrd to ash. You could even still read some words, but if you touched it, it just turned to dust.
He also put some receipts on the oven. In the meantime, the landlord saw the flipped off fuse (located on the basement) and flipped it on.
We wondered why it smelled burned and we discovered that the oven was on, and had burned the paper to ash.
Amazingl, it did not really burn, the paper just utnrd to ash. You could even still read some words, but if you touched it, it just turned to dust.
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8points