I figured this out when I was trying to buy a grill. I thought it didn't matter. Boy was I wrong. My sim then went on to use it to murder as he was a serial killer.
It is the quickest way top start a fire in the sims 2

On this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr...M1BbWJFbnQ_meMQ
I'll post a video testing out the grill in the sims 4, I may try it in the sims 3 to see if it has the same effects.

I managed to slaughter half a household by not putting a smoke alarm outside because I didn't know that grills could catch fire. Thank the sim gods for 'plead for loved one'.

I thought everyone learned about this back when people were plotting out the best strategies for doing the Apocalypse Challenge.

Probably has either something to do with being placed on floor tiles (as opposed to ground cover), or directly against a wall.

Mod, if you need it for patios: https://modthesims.info/download.php?t=433655

I tend to put sprinklers over anything I know is flammable ingame (yes, even the grill, and especially the Christmas tree and stoves), even when I play with free will off. Keeps sims safe.

I definitely do that now.

This is the quickest way to start a fire in sims 2 yes.

There are lots of people who haven't been playing the game as long as us oldies!

My first thought was I thought everyone knew that from Sims 1

Old, indeed. I also remember the firework in sims 1 that was an instant firestarter when used indoors. And fireplaces used to be lethal, so I am possibly a bit over-cautious with them in TS2.

Oh yes, a sims 1 fireplace with a rug in front of it was my standard murder weapon at one point!
But with the sims 2 grills - don't they catch on fire now and then wherever you place them? They often do on my community lots, as late as yesterday a sim's business went down a level because of a fire and I had to keep his kids skating at the skating rink to keep them safe while he extinguished the fire. That grill was standing in splendid isolation specififically to lessen the risk of the fire spreading, so no walls or floor tiles. I always just assumed this had to do with sims with no cooking points trying to grill. If this is not a thing in anyone elses game I must look into what I'm doing wrong!

Everything was flammable in Sims 1, I even had the Grim Reaper die in a fire (he was reaping the soul of dearly departed Sim Sample ):

As far as I know in an unmodded game Sims 2 grills will never catch fire on an unowned community lot, can catch fire on a residential lot or owned community lot (but only when playing the owning family), and will always catch fire if placed indoors on a residential lot, or an owned community lot (but only when playing the owning family). If you're playing Sims from other families and sending them to the owned lot, it will be treated as if it were an unowned lot, so there will be be no fires.

Of course this vanilla behaviour can be changed by mods. In my case there are never any fires in any of my lots (except for "safe" fires where they belong in fireplaces, bonfires and fire-jets). That's because I put in Squinge's No More Fires mod a few months after I started to play. I make no apology for this. My timid constitution simply isn't up to watching the flames consuming the living flesh of someone I love. At the very least it would give me nightmares for weeks.

In my childhood I remember my father telling me that Fire is a good servant but a terrible master. I keep it that way in my game: I won't let it endanger the lives of the Sims I love.

hate how sometimes you can't tell sims to call the fire department no matter how hard you try, some sims (not all) sims will just ignore your commands then run to the fire every time just to panic and then burn to death eventually, why don't anybody talk about how annoying this really is?

In other news I actually caught an old beat up grill on fire before in real life, luckily it was vary old and beat up and not vary expensive to begin with, so yea even in real life because of grease. Grills can indeed catch on fire and the propane ones (in real life) could actually explode and shoot fire everywhere therefore possible starting a fire that could burn down an entire house or garage, and catching your entire family on fire as well and that could have happen to me

I was grilling on an old cheap propane grill that was so old and beat up to begin with there was no way to turn down the heat or turn up the heat

I installed that grool ondoors Mod a long time ago when installing UC on this computer because of having had them catch on fire a few tomes on my old computer in an unmodded game.

I honestly gave up on the Sims fire department long ago - they don't put out fires outside in trees (game doesn't acknowledge there are any fires, and you just get a fine), they arrive too late, they don't gain access to the area with the fire because a heap of sims are standing around panicking, and the alarm howls too loud. This, by the way, has been the bane of sims in several games, not just 2.

Not all that long ago a TS4 townie/colleague sim somehow got themselves wedged so tight into a corner while burning their dinner in a microwave that they almost set half the upper floor ablaze in my sim's workplace. Fire brigade couldn't get to them. Other sims couldn't put the fire out, even Grim had troubles getting to them. Not for no reason I install the sprinkler system in every house, although I can't remember to have seen it in action yet (even though my sims have a knack of burning their food or setting themselves on fire) - but looked up a video and that thing seems to come into action extremely slow.

Can't remember if TS3 has anything similar - been ages since I played it. There you can play as the fire brigade, though.

Anyway, I'd rather my sims are safe with the sprinkler - in TS2 it starts almost immediately, and your sims don't even get burned, just a bit drenched. Plus, I think they can set off the sprinkler as a prank without there being a fire, which only gets them a cold shower. Bonus gameplay

I've had two major outdoor fires, and the fire department was instrumental in putting them both out. The saguaro fire at the Ottomas house in Strangetown was a pain in the neck because the tree never burned up and the puddles from the rain kept catching fire and it was hard to get anyone inside to call the fire department. The fire at the Thyme house in Drama Acres shouldn't have been a big deal, but there was a lot of landscaping and nobody noticed when lightning struck the midbiscus; by the time the school bus arrived it was already out of control, but it looked like something Hi'd be able to take care of, if the girls would have just gotten on the bus; but they wouldn't, and one of the girls caught fire and somebody had to stop putting out the fire to put her out and they'll only put out the fire for so long before they stop to panic again, and everyone I tried to send inside to call the fire department stopped to panic in the doorway and finally the only way they got called was that poor Summer somehow caught fire in the doorway and ran inside, tripping the fire alarm; but the door was blocked by panicking sisters so before anyone could get inside to put her out she was dead, poor thing. Both of those were raging infernos by the time the firemen showed.

I think there's a specific glitch that happens, when a tree fire is supposed to be put out by the rain, but the animation doesn't go away; perhaps that's what happened with yours.

I remember back in Sims 1, I tried to have a single-parent household in a trailer that ate all their food off the grill, but the way I had the patio set up, it counted as inside the house and it caught fire every time. I can't remember if they both died or if I finally gave in and got them a cheap stove.

That was traumatic- I had bad dreams after playing my first sim through the firefighter career- the earthquakes! The sims screaming! Fun to bash doors down though.

It's a good idea to have an extinguisher or fire blanket handy when dealing with dodgy equipment.

The continuing tree inferno glitch takes place in my game as well, only with certain trees though, and when it does occur? I just delete the tree with the "move_objects on" cheat or use my "Nuke it" sims 2 object mod in which is a special object mod inside the buy mode. That when I do place it on an object, it allows me to delete objects like. Stuck beds and trees when the objects do have errors on them.




if you put a smoke detector outside, and and whenever a fire does take place in an open area outside not fenced in though. the sim fire department will come and if the fire remains after the storm and the rain does not put it out. they will put it out for you, but if the rain puts it out then they just tell the tree to be careful next time and that is it. no fine. If you call them and the rain is destined to put the fire out then yes you will get a $500 Simolean fine,

so don't call them, just allow the fire alarm, or the rain to take care of the fire and let the fire department do their thing.

having fires outside due to lightning rarely happens in real life unless, like sometime in a dry forest area, so therefore it's vary annoying in the sims 2 especially when sims don't listen to your commands to call the fire department.



we managed the put the fire out and nobody was hurt, and only the grill went from the fact of should not have been used in the first place status, to garbage status, not even the grill was much more damaged then it already was before we started cooking on it AND we saved the food too and ate it, the food was even ok.

They arrive too late?? I had to install a mod to add a delay because I found it so stupid how they would teleport in immediately as soon as they got the call. They would always arrive while the fire was still on one square if I had a fire alarm, which meant I never used them because it made fires completely harmless. What is the point of that? If I wanted harmless fire I would install a no fires mod. So I now have more dangerous fire plus the delay, which makes fire actually a huge emergency, similar to how it was in sims 1. Yesterday, I had a sim recovering from pneumonia start an accidental fire, and that was genuinely a worry! Luckily, she managed to extinguish some herself and she had a fire alarm, so the fire brigade came. She lost her counters, fridge, cooker and stereo, but she was unharmed. After a bath and a sleep and a Chinese takeaway, she even recovered.

There's a fire mod by simler90 that makes them run towards the phone and be able to use cell phones to call, because otherwise yes, they will panic on the way to the phone, which is pretty stupid. The fire mod again by simler or by pescado also makes learning fire safety result in less panicking and simler's one makes them autonomously call, even if uncontrollable. Pescado's fire mod just makes visitors run away, which is silly if it's a tree fire!

This fixes the everlasting tree fire glitch, which might have been the cause of some of your "no fire" messages.
http://cyjon.net/node/422

I love that mod, I had to reload without saving (which I rarely do) because of this one when half of my town was wiped out because of it. I had a cleanbot on a lot and it went wrong whilst cleaning up ash piles, and then went straight into the fire... it was on fire and coughing burning rubbish piles everywhere, eventually about 80% of the lot tiles were on fire (inside and out!). Even the pedestrian portal burned; so sims that visited (and I have a lot- I have Piquiwi's walkbys mod turned up for more sims) caught on fire immediately they set foot on the lot. The fire engine burned, the second fire engine couldn't arrive because of the ash piles in the road, the cats died leaving orphaned kittens, the occupants of the house died, the maid died, townies died... urns were everywhere, and burning too. It was a disaster! I exited without saving because of the kittens.

The start- just a little fire! Right?


Later:


It got worse after that last picture, I was frantically clicking trying to get sims to extinguish instead of panic!

That is exactly the kind of chaos I like to see (very, very, VERY rarely!) It wouldn't be fun if it were an everyday occurance. But it makes a damn good story when it happens

I've had several fires that bad in game-they just go on and on forever-the fireman keeps putting it out and one took over 6 hours to put out.
I haven't lost any pixels to one lately, though-I lock them in the house (which never catches fire) so they can't see what's going on outside.
How that can happen is weird-you'd think they'd see through the windows the inferno raging outside.

Not so much in TS2 - they're quick enough there, but I just find the fire alarm and fire squad annoying, especially mixed up with the panicking sims and all. Haven't had a lot of fires on my lots in TS2 for a while (my sims have mostly been in storytelling mode for quite some time now, so no weather/lightning unless specified, no cooking unless closely supervised, free will off, etc.), so my annoyances are probably more from a time where my sims were in survival mode and there weren't too many fire safety mods to go around. Nowadays I tend to just safeguard everything flammable with the sprinklers so there's as little room for trouble as possible.

TS4, though. I swear, those sims have a death wish... If they could burn a salad, they would. Nine times out of ten, if they don't already have a cooking point, they'll set the stove on fire their first or second time using it

I thought the whole grilling indoors things was common knowledge. Though the easiest way to start fires in Sims 1 was actually by setting off fireworks indoors. lol I had tried other methods for killing off Sims--the pool, the wall prison, the stove with 0 cooking skill, they were all too slow.

I never knew about the Christmas trees catching fire, though, until one tragic winter...