Diesel was dyed a variety of colours for various tax relieved industries; agricultural,construction,maritime,military. If I recall there were 5 coloured diesels, (pink, blue, brown, green ,red?) but if you were stopped and the authorities did a litmus /dye test on your vehicle which showed you'd used a diesel for travel and not the use it was tax exempted, for the vehicle could be seized and the tax man would be pursuing you.
Its not done like this anymore, this is the old steeplejack method of which Fred Dibnah was one of the last good ol boys, its a computer and safety driven now. Fred was a legend in his own lifetime, keep showing these clips we should never forget them, another you may like is called the workshop, all the old skills brought back to life, great shows.
When this film was made he was probably one of the only steeplejacks still dropping them like this, the others just used dynamite which was a lot quicker but less predictable. Hence why he used to do the difficult ones where he'd drop them between mill buildings that they wanted to keep.
Simply using good, tried-and-tested techniques! Love the way Fred was standing just a few feet away from it burning, but he was wearing his health & safety hat! I'm sure that would have helped! 🤣👌🤣
Thank you to the person that sent this to you so great to see it in clarity he was genus with math and science. I know I would luv to see a great bonfire 🔥 like that well done safely down 😁🐿️♥️✌🏼
The fuel is Red as its diesel thats been dyed . Pink diesel in the UK is tax free/reduced compared to normal diesel and for farm use (or similar) only and not for sale to Normal public at normal pumps. Also diesel unlike petrol (what you call gas) doesnt evaporate as well and is much harder to set alight so no "flash" when lighting it
It was a beautiful chimney - all that lovely checkerboard round the top. A work of art reduced to rubble under the skilled hands of a master, Fred Dibnah!
The diesel won't give you the same boom or flash as petrol or kerosene because it doesn't form a dense vapour cloud as easily in the open air. It's also less flammable. However it has more energy per unit so it's a lot better for getting a fire nice and hot. Obviously it's still possible to create massive explosions with the stuff if it's not handled correctly, but that takes some effort so it's generally safer than petrol.
I love how after about five minutes they all get rid of their hats and go back to flat caps whilst tunnelling under the chimney - Good old Fred causing Health and Safety inspectors conniptions back then and modern day ones to faint when they see videos like this
There'd be mixed feelings among the older onlookers, who worked in that mill their entire lives, as did their parents and grandparents. Like an obituary to a way of life.
Yes, the fuel they were splashing on was diesel. In the UK, we pay huge tax on road fuel. You can get diesel fuel for marine use, and agricultural use, and also on some construction vehicles, so long as they do NOT go onto public roads. It is also used for domestic heating in 'oil fired' boilers. A red dye is added for identification. Woe betide you if you are stopped on the road & found to have 'red' diesel in your tank !! [ And 'they' used to check ]. Diesel oil isn't very volatile, so few fumes at room temp. I was always told that you could throw a lighted match into a full lorry diesel tank, & it would just go out, not 'explode'. [It shouldn't be tried on a partially empty tank, because that IS full of flammable fumes]. I was never quite brave or reckless enough to try it. If they were using gasoline [ petrol] or kerosene [paraffin ] it would be a whole different story. As he says, the 'props' he is using are old GPO telegraph poles [ the poles for supporting telephone wires, in pre digital days ]. They were typically cleaned up pine tree trunks, about 9-12" in dia. If you look at the early section, where he is cutting the prop to length, the poles were pressure treated with creosote [ natural preservative, full of hydrocarbons ] to a depth of 1" or more], so will be extra flammable, to start their own destruction. Fred worked to a price, so materials he used were the cheapest available, free, or stuff that he might even be paid to dispose of, hence the old telegraph poles, scrap wood, old engine oil, & scrap tyres. In one video, he mentioned how in Victorian times, they used to use coal, which would be incredibly expensive to him.
Fred's flat cap and the guy with the beret are yesterday's Health and Safety! S@d the tin hat! Loving that he is sawing up GPO (General Post Office) poles and wonder if the GPO knew back then! (only joking) 😃No wonder we've gone underground with fibre for our communications these days as Fred probably used all the poles up!😅
People were concerned about protecting Fred's head, while he used a really noisy power tool without ear protection. To be fair, one of his helpers wore ear protection, albeit around their neck not on their ears.
You say that Fred was lucky not to have been killed by a chimney. I disagree, I think he, as would all of us, would have prefered any other death than cancer. :( RIP Fred. You deserved better.
Hey Squirrel, the fuel they were using is Red Diesel, which is mostly used for farm and industrial vehicles and is flamable, but isn't as prone to ignition from the fumes as gasoline is. Also, Fred preferred this method of felling a chimney stack because he respected all the hard working men that probably spent months building it and allowing it to smoke last time before it comes down, is an old school Victorian era style mark of respect to the builders of the chimney and to signify another sad goodbye to another piece from Britain's industrial age.
I love seeing a younger generation discovering and sharing Fred's work. Fred inspired me to take on a lot of challenges and some calculated risk that I never would have before.
@7:20 They wasn't cutting off the wood sticking out for neatness reasons. If there's bits sticking out you will bang your head on it, snag clothes on it... It will just get in the way. ;)
Would be diesel over here (U.K.) We have white and red, white goes in vehicles, Red in agricultural machines etc and things not on the road- same fuel just red dye and lower tax.
ITS NORMAL DEISEL WITH DYE ITS CHEAPER AND IF YOU GET CAUGHT ITS PRISON, AS THE DYE STAYS IN THE TANK FOR AGES, AND WHEN POLICE PULL TRUCKS UP THEY TEST IT
I don't know anyone who has gone to prison for using red diesel!!! Mind you the police aren't bothered about catching "real" criminals! My husband was badly injured in a hit and run last year in UK and the police said they were too busy to deal with it!!! However, they reassured us, if he had been killed, they would have done more!!!!
Yer, it's red diesel not petrol. Diesel is usually a greeny colour but they put a red dye in it for agricultural use which is tax exempt. Also, diesel is more oily.
Just a side note. Cigarettes don't burn hot enough to ignite petrol/gas. They tested it on the show 'Mythbusters'. Petrol just puts the cigarette out. lol. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't petrol/gas that they were using. It's not really great for starting that kind of fire. Petrol/gas burns really quickly so it often burns away before the wood has time to set alight. Maybe diesel? That is quite difficult to set alight in the open but it does burn for longer. I don't know. lol.
