This is the write up I sent into Barronett Blinds at their request after I called them to tell them the story. I thought I’d share my experience with all of you so that you can each tell me how I should have known better. [emoji16] takes “around the campfire” to a different level.
This past weekend, my dad, a friend of mine, and I went hunting for hog in north Texas. The temperatures were low that night so we decided to use our two buddy heaters in the Barronett Pentagon blind to keep us warm. The first buddy heater lit right up and as we started to light the second one, the pilot light would flash and not stay on. It acted as if the propane bottle was empty. I unscrewed the seemingly empty bottle and the valve on the bottle malfunctioned spewing about two feet of propane. I’ve used many buddy heaters over the years and I’ve never had any propane bottles malfunction this way. The blind very quickly filled up with propane with two of us inside. It all happened so quickly that there wasn’t enough time to even think “we need to get out” and then be able to do so. I dropped the propane bottle. The entire blind filled with a sudden, large burst of fire. I dove across 3 chairs out of the blind through the luckily still unzipped entrance. I imagine it was something similar to what you would see in the movies, however, my battle wounds say otherwise. My friend escaped behind me. At the time that propane filled blind lit on fire, I was on the opposite side of the blind with fire, chairs, and gear between me and the exit.
With the exception of a bruised rib from my dive out of the fire, light abrasions, and burnt eyebrows/ eyelashes/ arm hair, we all escaped without serious injury. While I am well aware that the warning label recommends not using a heater inside of the pop up blind, we did. I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of the blind after the fire. The blind was left in its upright position for about 30-45 seconds before we knocked it over and away from the fire to recover and try to save our gear inside the blind.
Overall, I was very impressed that the blind did not burn worse than it did. Shoot through windows were burnt and some of the panels were melted, but I as I picked myself up off the ground and put out my boots that were on fire, I looked back and saw that the blind was not already in crumbles on the ground. I was informed by Courtney, a customer service rep for Barronett blinds, that they put a fire resistant lining in their blinds. I truly believe that this helped us escape more serious injuries since it did not immediately catch on fire also. I was very impressed with the quality of this blind.
Overall I think we got pretty lucky. Several things went really wrong and we after the dust has settled we have a crazy story. We inspected the valve on the propane tank and it was stuck in the down position and never recovered. Oh, and it was a full tank, not empty.
I’ll keep you guys updated on what they say, but the customer service rep said she would talk to her boss about helping me out on a new blind. She offered, I didn’t ask. I told her I knew being an idiot wasn’t covered under their warranty. Ha ha.
Safe hunting!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This past weekend, my dad, a friend of mine, and I went hunting for hog in north Texas. The temperatures were low that night so we decided to use our two buddy heaters in the Barronett Pentagon blind to keep us warm. The first buddy heater lit right up and as we started to light the second one, the pilot light would flash and not stay on. It acted as if the propane bottle was empty. I unscrewed the seemingly empty bottle and the valve on the bottle malfunctioned spewing about two feet of propane. I’ve used many buddy heaters over the years and I’ve never had any propane bottles malfunction this way. The blind very quickly filled up with propane with two of us inside. It all happened so quickly that there wasn’t enough time to even think “we need to get out” and then be able to do so. I dropped the propane bottle. The entire blind filled with a sudden, large burst of fire. I dove across 3 chairs out of the blind through the luckily still unzipped entrance. I imagine it was something similar to what you would see in the movies, however, my battle wounds say otherwise. My friend escaped behind me. At the time that propane filled blind lit on fire, I was on the opposite side of the blind with fire, chairs, and gear between me and the exit.
With the exception of a bruised rib from my dive out of the fire, light abrasions, and burnt eyebrows/ eyelashes/ arm hair, we all escaped without serious injury. While I am well aware that the warning label recommends not using a heater inside of the pop up blind, we did. I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of the blind after the fire. The blind was left in its upright position for about 30-45 seconds before we knocked it over and away from the fire to recover and try to save our gear inside the blind.
Overall, I was very impressed that the blind did not burn worse than it did. Shoot through windows were burnt and some of the panels were melted, but I as I picked myself up off the ground and put out my boots that were on fire, I looked back and saw that the blind was not already in crumbles on the ground. I was informed by Courtney, a customer service rep for Barronett blinds, that they put a fire resistant lining in their blinds. I truly believe that this helped us escape more serious injuries since it did not immediately catch on fire also. I was very impressed with the quality of this blind.
Overall I think we got pretty lucky. Several things went really wrong and we after the dust has settled we have a crazy story. We inspected the valve on the propane tank and it was stuck in the down position and never recovered. Oh, and it was a full tank, not empty.
I’ll keep you guys updated on what they say, but the customer service rep said she would talk to her boss about helping me out on a new blind. She offered, I didn’t ask. I told her I knew being an idiot wasn’t covered under their warranty. Ha ha.
Safe hunting!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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