Poptarts and a funeral...

[jayd4wg]

got the call a few days ago that my wife's cousin's grandmother passed away. we knew she was old, and let's face it, we've been to more funerals in Kittanning over the past 8 years than i care to think about. later, we learned that the deceased was victim of a house fire. It was an unpleasant finding to say the least. Tonight was the viewing and we found out what the cause of the fire was. Strawberry Poptarts. yup...cooked too long, removed to a plate, thought to have been extinguished, and then placed in a trash can with foam containers from a fish sandwich takeout dinner the night before. the poptarts apparently had enough residual heat remaining to bring the styrofoam to ignition, and by the time the ensuing fire was discovered, it was too late. the victim was recovered in the kitchen, thought to either be attempting to extinguish the fire, or simply overcome by heat/smoke. she left alot of folks behind and will truly be missed.
on to the public service announcement - take caution when heating pop tarts in the toaster. According to the fire chief, this happens more than we'd like to believe but is usually not resultant in a death.
A quick online search for "flaming poptarts" resulted in a ton of hits and videos. we personally don't keep the sugar laden garbage in the house, and none of us miss them. when I DID eat them, i nearly always ate them cold but it was nevertheless disturbing to me to find that these things burn about as readily as steel wool rubbed with a 9volt battery.

rough night...

 

[athhud]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

Man, that is terrible! Thanks for the heads up though. I just started volunteering at the local department. This would be worth mentioning at the elementary school on fire safety day. I always ate them cold too. That lava filling is more dangerous than an open flame IMO! I don't touch them anymore. They are a serious source of heartburn for me. Damn things are apparently a time bomb in a foil pouch!

 

[ORD]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

Damn right!!

Guns don't kill people...Pop Tarts Do (whether it be from morbid obesity/diabetes/heart disease OR fire)!!!!!

BAN POP TARTS, NOT FIREARMS!!

Sorry...ETA to say I don't mean to make light of your loss. I am truly sorry. What a senseless way to leave this world. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours.

 

[mexicanmatch]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

Sorry for your loss. MM

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

trust me...the poptart jokes were flying...i think it was using humor to deal with loss. really was tragic though. cousin's family is pretty tore up. I think it would have been easier to deal with if it were a car accident or something...but death by poptart is just a hard thing to digest/swallow... not trying to make light of it either..still coping myself. met the lady dozens of times. she raised a big family of strong boys. a few of them hunt as well. i have yet to hunt WITH them but i've seen the values "Gammy" has instilled in the family and to be honest, we could use a few more Gammy's. hitting the rack. been a long day.

 

[rero360]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

My condolences JasonB, never good to see people go.

On a side, I believe Dave Barry did an article on the flaming poptarts a number of years ago, I remember my dad took our old toaster out into the parking lot of his work and ran the experiment, came to the conclusion that it was extremely hazardous.

 

[spamassassian]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

JasonB, sorry for your loss.

I almost started a fire in the old company where I worked. It was a combination of stupidity and lack of attention...

The stupid part was having the paper towel holder right above the toaster...

I put in a pair of strawberry Pop Tarts and hit the plunger. Then for some reason the toaster malfunctioned and did not pop up when it should have. I was not watching closely - there's the lack of attention part. All the sudden, those of us in the kitchen noticed a smell and turned to look as a foot of flames was shooting out of the toaster and igniting the roll of paper towels above it. Quick action on our part prevented what could have turned into a SERIOUS fire very quickly had the cabinets caught.

I was deemed "Professor Pop Tart" after that incident.

Needless to say, we re-located the toaster AWAY from the paper towels.

 

[mexicanmatch]

Re: Poptarts and a funeral...

She sounds like a wonderful woman who had a level head and knew much about other people, she treated them with respect and proublie enjoyed doing so. I will pray to the Creator for her and all that knew her. MM aka crow hop