These days I use one to boil a can full of Oakite (industrial strength spic
and span) to degrease parts. But read on.....
Dangerous, yes! Entertaining, yes again! LOL!
Our unit in Viet Nam had just erected a real wooden mess hall with tin roof
and running water. Our illustrious cook was using an immersion heater to cook
down some sourmash, (medicinal purposes only) when said industry met with
misadventure. The heater, the barrel full of ripe mash, and the kitchen,
erupted in napalm-like flames, and burned the new mess hall to the
foundations. As the fire reached each additional immersion heater, there was
an impressive fireball, and in time the line of Coleman gasoline fired
messhall ovens made similar contributions. My job in case of fire was to
follow the foam truck with an M49 tanker full of water that we kept parked
nearby in case of fire. My performance was well rehearsed, but that night,
in my haste and excitement, I broke both dump valve cables and was not able
to get the water pump going. As we stood there and watched the flames, the
collective thought was "Behold, the power of sour mash". I can't ever recall
a fire that smelled so good!
For those who saw the smoke and wondered what was burning, this happened at
Camp Enari in the central highlands, in the spring of 1968. Ah, almost
forgot..I won a free trip to class to learn how to discharge the contents of
a 1200 gallon tank truck!
Jack
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