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I'm not a Fireman, nor do I play one on TV .. .. some mornings start out better than others .... we were setup in our camper at Lake Conroe, north of Houston .... Jan 3, 2016 at about 3AM I woke up when my CPAP machine shut off .... got up and went down stairs where I smelled something hot .... that small almost instantly went to one of burning plastic .... heavy smoke rolled out of the cabinet under the TV .... I opened the cabinet door and saw our surge protector was literally burning like an Olympic torch .... needless to say I got it out of the camper as quickly as I could .... campers are like many structures in that they can go up in flames in a hurry .... below are pictures of the cabinet under the TV where the fire was located, what was left of the circuit breaker, and the fire was located between our bedroom and the exit door .... to make a long story short, a neutral failed and set 220 current down a line built for 110 .... thousands of dollars later she's been repaired and has performed well .... major change since the fire has been to put a large fire extinguisher in the bedroom .... the idea being not to put out the fire but hopefully to be able to create hole for us to be able to get out .... would hate to think about what could have happened if my CPAP machine hadn't of shut off

Wow! That could have been tragic! I have to ask about smoke detectors....
Glad no one was hurt!

the camper's smoke detectors did go off .... that said, I had already ripped the surge protector out of the cabinet and was on my way out by the time they sounded .... we are lucky I was literally standing a couple of feet away when it burst into flame

WOW, LUCKY!!

Another close call. Glad you are ok. Wow.

Wow! That must have been a frightening experience! It could easily have ended very differently.

Les wrote:Wow! That must have been a frightening experience! It could easily have ended very differently.

actually, it happened so quickly there wasn't time to do anything but to rip it out of the cabinet and get it out of the camper .... later that day when we realized how much damage was done (washing machine, TV, Satellite Dome Dish, ice maker, power converter, frig, clocks, etc all fried), reality set in ....

That's what it takes though, no action other than reaction. Think about it later.

I'm glad you were able to detect it before it got out of control. It's a matter of a slim few minutes that make the difference.

Glad you and yours came out on top.

daytime dave wrote:That's what it takes though, no action other than reaction. Think about it later.

I'm glad you were able to detect it before it got out of control. It's a matter of a slim few minutes that make the difference.

Glad you and yours came out on top.

you are dead on the money .... after it was over, I was a bit concerned about the amount of black smoke from burning plastic that I breathed .... that turned out to not be an issue .... we often hear that most things can be replaced and for us that was most certainly the case

daytime dave wrote:That's what it takes though, no action other than reaction. Think about it later.

Copy that.

I have a similar camping story. It was in the fall and I was volunteering at Lake Chelan State Park. I was the only camper in the campground and had gone home for the weekend. I got back at dusk and as soon as I opened the door a plug-in burst into flames as the smoke bellowed out. My guess was when I opened the door it got fresh oxygen and since the wood was already at kindling temperatures the flames were instant.

Wow! I am sorry to hear that this happened to you.

I am glad that you and your wife were not burned or worse.

I hope that your insurance company takes care of your damages.

Edited to add:

I read where your damages were fixed with the wiring.

Can you get out easily from one of the windows where you sleep or do you have to break open a larger spot with an axe if you should have to do this and can't exit through a door?

I would have one or two axes by your bed even though you have other fire prevention fighting tools and alarms handy.

Would it be hard for you to sleep on the main level near an EXIT door? I gather this is a fifth wheel trailer with the bed ON TOP with a short flight of stairs to climb from your pictures and your description in your original post.

Take care!

Cate

God was watching over you, my friend! Glad you lived to tell the story and hopefully help others with your quick-thinking and rapid response time. Part of my job is to train employees annually on fighting incipient fires with a fire extinguisher. No, they are not qualified to be firemen, but their training has helped save several pieces of large machinery from going up in smoke. The first and most important key is for them to access the size of the fire and not go running into a situation where they could lose their life over a thing that can be replaced. People cannot be replaced. Glad you were able to do this without injury.