Ten years ago, today was one of those beautiful Ann Arbor early May days much like today might turn out. I write this by the fire looking out at cloudy and 45, but it’s early and I have faith in Michigan weather. Another day for sweats and shorts, in sequence for certain, and likely at the same time for a while. Days like these just pull you outside and 10 years ago was no different. But Kathy and had a plan. Sure, we’d stroll down to the Argo Park sluiceway and boat livery, up the river trail, over on the Leslie Park Trail to Black Pond Woods and home, but while out there, we’d be cooking our dinner. I’d had my Pit-Barrel smoker (1) a couple years and loved it’s basically a 55-gallon oil drum with a lid and bottom into which you lower a basket of burning charcoal then hang meat for a nice slow cook. That day 10 years ago, we hung 2 slabs of rubbed ribs, closed the lid, and walked out the door. Yes, my entire BBQ arsenal sits on my very expensive deck of ipé (a Brazilian hardwood), part of the renovation of 10 years previous, before which was mere pine, Long ago, I built a 38X74 tiled platform to keep hot items from contacting the wood. When the platform fell victim to our renovation, I got the lead carpenter Brian to build me a new one. Of course, it was much nicer than the original – built with ipé! – and sat between my cooker and deck 10 years ago, just as designed. So, we left our smoking barrel without a care.
For fun, we reversed the order in which we usually attack the aforementioned path. We got quite a bit of time in the woods before hitting the river and Argo. That turn at Argo to walk along the sluiceway marks the beginning of the trip home. About a third of the way along the sluiceway, we heard some sirens then saw a couple fire trucks headed East, same direction as our house. Kathy sniggered “Hope they’re not going to our house!”. Right after that, her phone rang. It was Cathy, our next-door neighbor “Your house is on fire and your deck is gone!”. She did reassure us that firemen and their vehicles were already there. Her husband Paul had identified and put out the main fire before they arrived. We were still a little over a mile away but picked up our pace for the rest of the walk. As we turned down Leaird off Broadway, in was clear where all the action was on Harbal that afternoon. Fortunately, we saw no smoke rising from our house. Had any flame dare emerge, the two green-yellow Ann Arbor fire trucks would have shown it no mercy, especially with the army of uniformed personnel on my driveway at the ready to hold the hoses and turn the faucets. And if any help was needed, I’m sure some from the crowd of neighbors there would have volunteered. The ribs were about done, and their aroma wafted over the place. Later, after Kathy and I had inspected everything, we moved the cooker from the flammable deck to the asphalt driveway. The crowd gathered around that thing like it was a firepit on a wintry night. It was 70 and sunny. The firefighters stayed an awfully long time after my fire was out, and I don’t think it was just to make sure it stayed that way. As I hadn’t cooked nearly enough to feed such a crowd, nobody got any. They slowly slinked away, but not before I got a talking to from their commander about how dangerous it can be to barbeque on a wooden deck. I didn’t argue with him but contact of my cooker with the deck never happened, although it did have an indirect role in the fire. Regardless of how the fire happened, it was a sight to see (the platform had been flipped up). And, yes, I still barbecue on the deck.
The flames that cut that surgical hole in the deck began in the plastic folding side table we kept next to the cooker but not on the platform. There’s always a little peril in using the smoker when it comes to getting the fuel in place. You fill a basket with charcoal, pull out enough to fill a starter chimney, pour those grayed coals back in with the rest, then lower the whole thing down. The bar you hold is very close to hot coals. Oven mitts are mandatory, but they sometimes catch fire. A run to the sink does away with that. It was a job always did, but 10 years ago, I was less than 5 months out from a bike accident that trashed my brachial plexus leaving me with a useless right arm. I was getting better, but still not strong enough to wield a 10# basket of burning coals. Kathy agreed to step in and ably lowered in the coals. One of her gloves came up smoldering, and she patted it out. Receiving no direction from her husband to do otherwise, she left the gloves on the side table. And that’s where it began. Flames and heat from the burning plastic side table scorched the brick and cracked the window by which it stood. The flaming mess burned right through the deck and fell on a small folding teak table, now history. The fire settled on the ground and shot towards our neighbor. I think it was at that point Paul, neighbor on the other side, put it out.
We called Gary, our builder, to involve him in the restoration. He was aghast at the pictures we showed him and got worried the fire might have affected the nearby metal spiral staircase. He came, inspected, and proceeded to put it back together like nothing happened. Our house and its contents got a thorough cleaning. We had to replace the gloves and the table. At the time, Kathy was working on a masters in geology. The head tech of the lab in which she was working heard the story and gave her a pair of long asbestos gloves. And the table? We found a metal one about the same size as the vaporized one. It’s working out fine. Entering our second fire-free decade.
If this story has you hankerin’ for some ribs, here’s the recipe. The Pit-Barrel Cooker people put out a nice video (2). Beer ribs are fun, too (3).
References
1. The Pit Barrel Cooker Co. https://pitbarrelcooker.com
2. Award Winning Pork Ribs by Pit Barrel Cooker Co. https://pitbarrelcooker.com/blogs/food/award-winning-pork-ribs-1
3. Beef Dino Ribs. https://pitbarrelcooker.com/blogs/food/beef-ribs-1
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