500 Pound Body Causes Fire At Virginia Crematory
A Virginia crematorium caught fire on Wednesday afternoon when an employee was cremating a 500 pound body. The fire marshal is ruling it an accident.
The manager said in 20 years of working there, this was a first.
[su_center_ad]According to WSLS, the manager said the fire happened as a result of the size of the body his workers were processing at the time.
Jerry Hendrix explained that when it comes to handling obese bodies, extra steps are taken to ensure the cremation process goes smoothly.
He said the worker took all the right steps but because of the 500 pound body, things took an unexpected turn.
“The body was so obese that the actual body fat came off and went straight up the sack and hit the roof material, the rubber roof we have up there and that’s what made it go up like it did…It was no negligence involved in it. My guys, we did all we could. Once it started, the grease hit the roof and started the fire, the only thing we could do is dial 911 and get the fire department here,” Hendrix said.
None of the three other bodies which were on the premises were damaged in the process.
The company was able to finish preparing the 500 pound body later Wednesday.
The fire was contained to the roof and was under control within half an hour. No one was injured in the fire, but the business will be closed for a few days in order to repair damage to the roof and furnace.
Watch courtesy of WSLS:
WSLS 10 NBC in Roanoke/Lynchburg Va
H/T: @ComgenKDT with thanks.[su_csky_ad]
Image: Sheila-Bruce Glass.
Tommy6860 October 9th, 2014 at 7:25 pm
The inferno more than likely started as a grease fire. *OUCH!*
KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker October 9th, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Now that a whole lot of Paula Dean style southern fat frying on display.
tiredoftea October 9th, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Somewhere bio-diesel libertarians are weeping.
M D Reese October 10th, 2014 at 5:49 pm
You made me laugh. I’ve got an asshat, alpha male neighbor who drives the biggest baddest gentleman’s diesel truck he could find. He turns it on and warms it up for about 45 minutes for a 5 minute drive to the store, just so that everyone in a 4 block radius knows that he has a big bad diesel pick up…I’m surprised he doesn’t “roll coal”.
tiredoftea October 10th, 2014 at 6:04 pm
Yeah, they are a precious bunch.
M D Reese October 9th, 2014 at 7:56 pm
There will be a lot more of this. They may as well start requiring that funeral homes can handle 750 pound corpses, because being an American means that you have the right to eat until you pop.
fahvel October 10th, 2014 at 3:36 am
brush shredder night work.
Kalib Butler October 10th, 2014 at 8:26 pm
Hate to break it to you, but there are fat people everywhere and the US is not the leading country in fat people. You might want to look around before you throw stones…
M D Reese October 10th, 2014 at 9:56 pm
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2014/05/28/america-tops-list-of-10-most-obese-countries
Kalib Butler October 10th, 2014 at 10:21 pm
http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Obesity-Update-2014.pdf
M D Reese October 11th, 2014 at 3:22 pm
It shows the same result.
Kalib Butler October 11th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
If you read into it further, you will see that Greece tops the charts in overweight people per capita.
William October 10th, 2014 at 1:11 am
Aint no Mee-shell Obamee gonna tell me how to eat.
‘MURICA…
R.J. Carter October 10th, 2014 at 9:32 am
Reminds me of the story of Hero the Pig.
Hero the Pig would hobble around the farm on his one leg and three wooden prosthetics. When I asked the farmer about the artificial legs, he told me about Hero’s history.
“Long about two years ago, one of my boys sprained his ankle in the corn field, right in front of the combine. I’d about run him over except Hero darted in, grabbed his collar in his mouth, and dragged him out of the way in the nick of time.”
And that’s how he lost his legs?
“Nope, he was fine. ‘Bout six months after that, we had a fire break out on the back porch. Would’ve likely taken us all out, ‘cept for Hero, here. He charged through the front door, oinkin’ and a squealin’ til we woke up and put the fire out.”
And that’s how he lost his legs?
“Naw, he was unhurt, but a little smoked. Then just last Christmas when that blizzard hit, we was snowbound in the house — and all the presents was hid out in the barn. The young uns thought for sure Santy Clause had forgot ’em. Then there’s a grunt at the door, and there’s Hero, stumbling through them below zero temperatures and draggin’ that bag of toys behind him.”
Ah, so the cold got to him.
“Oh, no, he was just dandy.”
Well, what finally happened to his legs?
“Well, son, you gotta understand, Hero’s a special kind of pig.”
So I gather.
“Pig like that, you just don’t eat all at once.”
M D Reese October 10th, 2014 at 5:44 pm
“IT’S PEOPLE!!!”
Anomaly 100 October 10th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
Yay! I love people.
M D Reese October 10th, 2014 at 10:02 pm
I can honestly say that I don’t love people as a whole. I like a few, but as a species? Not so much. Maybe it’s the sauce I’m using?
spacegod October 12th, 2014 at 3:07 am
Humanity is fine; it’s people I don’t like.
Kalib Butler October 10th, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Personally, I would have dismembered the corpse and burned it a bit at a time. I think that would have been safer.
They’re going to be creamated anyway, so what does it matter?
linkeditin October 11th, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Praise the LARD!