KABOOM / warning
Posted 24 September 2007 - 07:01 AM
Hey there guys!
I recently extracted a large amount of dmt (10kg bark with 1.2% alkaloids). I had done a cleaning procedure with IPA and activated charcoal on it and after evapping the charcoal I am left with a white powder. So usually this is followed by a quick recrystallization which is done by dissolving in petroleum ether and evapping the solvent.
I first heated the solvent in a hot gravel bath. The gravel was heated with an electrical hot plate. This was done right next to an open window with a large fan blowing the fumes outside. I took the solvent out of the bath and added the DMT. So now I had about 50g DMT dissolved in 1.5liters Coleman Fuel, all inside of a beaker. For evaporation I poured the solvent into a flat dish when suddenly...
WHOOSH, all the dishes that had solvent in them caught fire. I dropped the beaker and another fire was lit on the floor, the carpet started to burn. I grabbed the solvent containing dishes and threw them out of the window, hereby burning my hands pretty badly. I then switched off the fan which was blowing fresh air (and therefore oxygen) into the flames. Since it didn't stop blowing right away I decided to throw the (burning!) fan out the window as well, smashing the glass of the window.
I then considered it to be the right time to get some water to pour over the flames, but had to realize my shoulder and hair had caught fire as well. I threw myself to the ground (like I had seen it done in movies before) without much luck. So the sheet was pulled of my bed and used to wrap around my torso and head, success, the fire was out.
I went on and got some water, put a seat of fire out, ran otu of water, called my dad for help. He came with water and put a few fires out himself. When he went back downstairs to get more water I put the last seats of fire out with the sheet I had previously used. The only thing burning now was the wall which was emitting thick smoke without flames being visible. All we could do now was to wait for the guys from the fire department to arrive which was, along with an ambulance, long alarmed by the neighbours.
It was by this time that I realized why all the time I could hardly see anything at all. I had obviously inhaled quite a large amount of dmt vapors (20-30mg) and was tripping pretty hard. I sorta started panicking and ran up and down the stairs for a minute or so, not knowing what to do. I ended up in the bathroom, realizing my pupils were dilated to infinity and skin was hanging off my face, hands, arms, shoulders. There were blisters up to the size of a human fist, filled with liquid all over the burn sites.
Then the pain started to kick in and I hid underneath the shower, turning the water to cold.
It took 15 minutes for the ambulance to finally arrive, they injected me with some ketamine and I passed out. I woke up the next day on an ICU in a hospital that specializes on victims of burning accidents.
In the protocol I found out that I had cooled my body down to 31°C (88°F) and at a later point stopped breathing. When I woke up my life was not acutely threatened anymore, but I had a fever of 39.8°C for another three days which I spent on the ICU. 8% of my body surface was burnt, ranging from second to thrid degree. It felt what I consider as extremely painful.
Anyway, I spent a few more weeks in the hospital after I was released from the ICU after 5 days and pondered what could've caused the accident. I came to the conclusion that the fan or the hot plate must have emitted a spark on the inside. The room was very well ventilated, but somehow the fumes must have reached a critical concentration in the air for them to be able to be lit by a spark like that. I'm still not certain, but this is about the only thing I could think of.
So anyway, I'd like to hear your ideas on the origin of the fire and what YOU are doing to prevent such a situation.
Peace
