Fire Safety
I worked at a bar in a small town where we made Moroccan coffees by lighting 151 rum on fire after pouring it into a chalice and sprinkling nutmeg and cinnamon in it. My co-worker was a bubbly and adorable sweetheart, but she was a train wreck.
She was making one of those coffees, and after she lit the booze on fire, she decided she needed more of it in the glass. She just started pouring 151 into the glass on top of the flame.
Fire darted up the stream of liquid from the glass to the bottle—which popped the pour spout off—and lit the whole bar and a customer’s jacket on fire as flaming 151 spilled over the back of the bar counter. The customer started hitting his arm, trying to put it out, but it wasn’t working.
He ran outside and threw it on the asphalt and started stomping on it. We stood there, too shocked to do anything, for a good five seconds before anyone even reacted. It happened so fast. It didn’t seem real.
There were no water pitchers anywhere, and we didn’t want to just pour water all over the bar because that’s where the computer and all of the electrical wiring were.
We grabbed a wet bar rag from the sanitizer bucket and poured it over the fire, and put it out. The best part is the girl who lit the customer on fire was the daughter of the Fire Marshal of the small town where our bar was.