Forums > Social Discussion > Kent BBC news learn fire eating

Posted: 11th May 2005
"BBC Radio Kent's Claire Minter decided she needed something new, hot and exciting in her life. She we went for fire eating! Here's her story..."

Male prostitutes just not her bag then obviously

Seriously though... the beeb need to be a bit more careful with their magazine articles. Stick to baking recipes auntie!

Posted: 11th May 2005
is white spirit really safe for eating? I thought it was a lot more volitile than paraffin

Posted: 11th May 2005
Thats another thing that concerned me..

I thought it was always done with parafin too..

Posted: 11th May 2005
I reckon one reason why trust exercises are used in a lot of workshops is that they fill up some time

My views are that maybe it's a little dodgy, but at least it's eating and not fire breathing.

Also, it sounds like the workshop leader covered some safety stuff.

When it comes to fire breathing workshops for the public- I don't like that.

IMO, any fire breathing workshops for the public should include a large portion devoted to safety and include some of the real life horror stories of when fire breathing goes wrong.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

Posted: 11th May 2005
I dont think they hsould be for the public at all. NO matter how many lessons and horror stories you tell people, the masses will assume, after one such fire breathing session, that they are now expert fire breathers.

then they will do it once or twice and not die, and think theyre invincible.

and then they will die.

OK, maybe thats extreme. I just know that people become irrational, and considering how immensely dangerous it is, i dont think it is something that more people should feel confident enough to do.

i also feel like there are a lot of folk who would pull out the old "fire breathing trick" at parties after taking a couple shots of bacardi's 151 and realizing they could go use it outside to blow fire with. teaching such a dangerous and intricate art in large, inpersonal sessions is a bad idea, overall.

i dont know about fire-eating lessons. private lessons yes, but i still think public lessons are bad. i kind of think public, en masse lessons about any fire art is bad. it instills confidence and fearlessness where neither should be.

on a side note, lots of fire eaters use naptha instead of kero, and insist it is better for eating (NOT breathing) but i wouldnt really know it is on art that i havent (and wont) be exploring any time soon....

Posted: 11th May 2005
i think this is my favorite part of the article:

"we had been taught how to put out the fire with a wet towel in case anything went wrong."

do you really need to be taught HOW to put the fire with a wet towel? or rather instructed that a wet towel be the most appropriate method of putting out a fire in case of accident? i feel like if you hand *most* people a wet towel, and then light a fire, they will figure out how to put it out...

On a side note, after reading the whole article... one of the things that bothered me about it is that theyre fire eat in the daytime.. eating and breathing and generally lots of fire arts are sometimes more dangerous in the day time, because, especially if using somethign that burns hot like white spirits, if youre on fire you will not see it right away, or at least that is a potential danger. in night time even a bluest/dimmest flame is noticeable, in the daytime you might end up feeling it before you see it.... and the goal is always the other way around, so you dont end up having to feel it, am i correct? or is that being overly cautious? thats what i have always been taught... if youre dancing during daytime, be extra careful... so teaching a class to eat fire, and having them do it during daytime, i think is a bad idea... even though they were under professional supervision this time during the daytime, who is to say they will be next time?

Posted: 11th May 2005
let's sue the BBC!!!

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 11th May 2005
FlamingOberon- I appreciate what you're saying about day vs. night, but, IMO, daylight has the advantage of everyone being able to see where any safety gear etc is, quickly and easily.

I also agree that workshops for the public for fire breathing are not good- I'd like to see them ended, and I'd like to see fire breathing not been done, anywhere, ever.

But, being realistic, fire breathing will be performed, and some people will run workshops for the public.

That being the case, the best we can hope for is that a healthy dose of education accompanies such workshops, that covers, in detail, safety precautions, safety issues, and accounts of the horrific injuries that can, and have occured, to even experienced breathers.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!

Posted: 11th May 2005

Written by: FlamingOberon

---

do you really need to be taught HOW to put the fire with a wet towel? or rather instructed that a wet towel be the most appropriate method of putting out a fire in case of accident? i feel like if you hand *most* people a wet towel, and then light a fire, they will figure out how to put it out...

---

Don't underestimate the potential stupidity of the average citizen. Even something as basic as a wet towel can prove to be amazingly complicated and useless. For one thing, they're not going to know HOW wet it should be-- chances are they'll want to have it sitting around sopping in a bucket full of water, like splatting water around really helps and doesn't just spread the fuel and create lots of steam wherever it hits hot metal-- and for another, most people invariably tend to BEAT fire when they're trying to put it out, which sometimes just makes things worse. The concept of smothering the flame so it can't get oxygen, covering it completely and pressing it away from the source, is not as common sense as it ought to be, and really is something that probably needs to be explained in detail-- heck, not just in fire play classes, but to everyone, if they get a grease fire in their kitchen or whatever.

"Ours is not to question The Head; it is enough to revel in the ubiquitous inanity of The Head, the unwanted proximity of The Head, the unrelenting HellPresence of The Head, indeed the very UNYIELDING IRRELEVANCE of The Head!" --Revelation X

Posted: 12th May 2005
I agree I think that article is a bit dodgey, especially the fire breathing bit at the end- its way too casual considering fire breathing is probably the most dangerous fire art- many very experienced fire performers will not do it (inclu. me although I'm not that experienced!) because it is so dangerous. It kind of makes me thing that the ful saftey issues were not quite explained so fully!

Live like there is no tomorrow,
dance like nobody is watching
and hula hoop like wiggling will save the world.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted: 13th May 2005
this seems to me to be a great way to get rid of staff you dont like!

Step (el-nombrie)

Posted: 13th May 2005

Posted: 13th May 2005
The casual way the article ends (wanting to try firebreathing next) worries me... makes it sound like a natural progression, or what you should be 'aiming' for next.

The optimist claims that we are living in the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears this is true.

Always make time to play in the snow.