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Darwin Awards
2006 Slush Pile

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Greece Fire

2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

This happened in front of my eyes, so I am pretty sure it hasn't already been listed here. It is at best an honorable mention, but I thought I should submit it anyway bc it is one of those rare female contender stories. When I was at PENN, I shared a dorm with a young woman from Greece. One evening, she was removing her nail polish by candlelight. I didn't notice, or I would've said something. You guessed it: the nail polish remover spilled and caused a fire. One of our floormates grabbed a fire extinguisher and was putting it out, while I ran the hall screaming, "Fire! Fire!" While I was running amok, my roommate was trying to put out the blaze with her hands. The fire department had to be summoned, my roommate had to go to the hospital to treat her burns, and some things in the room were damaged by the fire (although thankfully it was minimal). When my roomie was getting treated for her burnt hands, the attending physician asked where she was from. "Greece," she responded. "Do they always put out fires with their hands in Greece?" he asked.

Submitted on 07/27/2006

Submitted by: Sarah Trachtenberg
Reference:

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

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James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I happen to be of Grecian ancestry myself, Sarah, and I once put out a carbuerator fire with my hands ( I suffered more damage from slapping sharp rusty metal than from the fire, but my hands were basically fine). I'd write this off as panic, but nail polish remover IS one of the more volatile liquids, and we don't get too many female PA stories! I'll let it squeak by!


Fitzroy said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Hrm, I may also be taking the affirmative action route here. Fires like that are pretty common and always seem more spectacular in the moment than on reflection. On the other hand, the fairer sex is underrepresented so I too will wave this one along.


Jorge said:
Neutral: Personal Account


Sheryl said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Well, it's different! I'm a bit neutral on this one as I've probably had some close scrapes with nail varnish remover and *ahem* being a smoker.


Graham said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Fortunately, modern nail varnish remover is non flammable, but there are countless thousands of such cases of women setting fire to themselves and others through careless use of acetone, the key flammable ingredient in older polish removers. Running down the hall screaming "Fire! Fire!" did it for me. My own dorm on campus was a hive of 'amusing' activity most nights.


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