Freshman year in highschool, I worked on the committee that made the Freshman float for the homecoming parade. The theme of our float was Hansel & Gretel. We had a house with a chimney on the float, and we had several people dressed up on the float in costumes. Our characters included hansel & gretel who were standing in front of the house, and a witch who sat in a cage. The student who played the witch was handicapped, so it worked out nicely since all she had to do was sit in the cage.
I had the bright idea that we should use smoke bombs to make smoke come out of the chimney, so I was in the house in charge of the special effects. We also kept everyone elses coats in the house as it was cold in October.
Our float was toward the end of the parade (being freshman), and like most parades, ours was led by the fire department.
I only had a few smoke bombs, so it was decided that I would save them for when we were in front of the judges stand which was at about the halfway point of the parade.
As we approached the judges stand, Hansel gave me the signal to light one of the smoke bombs. I lit the smoke bomb, and stuck it in the 2 inch hole that was made in the roof of the house into the chimney.
I guess I never really noticed that smoke bombs started off shooting this flame like a flame thrower. Well, pretty quickly, the chimney caught on fire because it was made up mostly of cardboard and 'flowers' made of McDonalds napkins. I tried putting out the small fire, but it was no use and pretty soon the entire chimney was on fire and was quickly spreading towards the rest of the house. I was pretty much in panic mode (not really concerned that I was going to burn, but more like 'OH SHIT!!!!!') and people on the float and in the audience started realizing that the float was not just putting out chimney smoke, but flames as well. You could hear the gasps and screams. Meanwhile, I was still doing the 'Oh Shit! Oh SHIT!!!' trying to pat out what flames I could.
Now this was in 1982, pre-cell phones (and thank god, pre-cell phone cameras), so basically word spread to the front of the parade and the fire truck turned around to come deal with the fire.
Everyone who could get of the float got off, and a couple adults lifted the cage off of our handicapped friend and got her off. Also, the truck pulling the float was disconnected and pulled away from the burning float. I forgot to mention that the guy who loaned us the truck didn't have a gas cap on the tank, so all he had was a rag blocking the gas tank (molotov coctail anyone?).
Unfortunately, because the float was covered almost entirely of McDonald's napkins, all the float material had burned by then and the firemen were basically trying to save the trailer that the farmer loaned to us.
Long story short, float totaled, lost about 12 winter coats, and had to live with the embarassment and shame throughout highschool.
Oh yeah, so I was pretty down, and my folks took me home and were being pretty sympathetic. I was sitting in the living room staring into space, and then my older brother walks into the house (he had been at the parade), points to me and just starts cracking up . Jerk
Take Care®,
:fire: Vic