# Another Pop Up Fire Pit Melt Down



## IDriverRunner (Aug 18, 2015)

Woah! That's crazy! My pop up pit has had huge fires (much larger than what is recommended I'm sure), but it still functions like it's brand new and have had zero issues with it. I would say that maybe I've been lucky, but from reviews I've seen from other owners, it may be more accurate to say you are the unlucky own. Wish I had valuable insight for you, but I'm sure the owner will pop in here and make things right.


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## HitMcG (Jun 6, 2018)

I'm really surprised by this as well. I've had several large fires in my pop up with no issues. I wonder if there was a defect in the side material on that batch? Following.


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## bcpnick (Jul 16, 2015)

No way. Something more than just a big fire happened in this pan. We let the one below go well into the night, and someone even broke out some bags of fancy (super hot) hardwood and still no real damage to the pans. These two had only a very slight, barely noticeable bend between their adjoining side panels. Big spoon, little spoon. Whatever made that carnage above happen had to have been pretty serious.










One of the same pans, a few weeks later. Still no damage.


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## k2andcannoli (Feb 28, 2012)

I made my own flat pack pit out of 12 ga. mild steel, 4 pieces total, packs 24"x12"×1" and cost me about $40 for the steel remnants and a cut off wheel...sure its heavy and dirty, but it's made to hold campfires and last forever. I was suspicious of those pits when I first saw them on here. Aluminum and heat don't work well together.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Our fire was MUCH smaller then either of these, and far less then the photo above. Sides melted in minutes.




bcpnick said:


> No way. Something more than just a big fire happened in this pan. We let the one below go well into the night, and someone even broke out some bags of fancy (super hot) hardwood and still no real damage to the pans. These two had only a very slight, barely noticeable bend between their adjoining side panels. Big spoon, little spoon. Whatever made that carnage above happen had to have been pretty serious.
> 
> View attachment 59043
> 
> ...


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## sarahkonamojo (May 20, 2004)

Accelerant?


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Nope, did not bring any this time due to space and dry conditions. Frankly it does not take much to start a fire in these.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Wind in camp?

Was the fire entirely covering the sides? 
As aluminum is such a good conductor, I wonder if the fire was heating up the entire side...one spot was hotter than the rest, but it couldn't dissipate heat.

I've had some very hot fires in mine, even including wood hanging over the sides...but never so large it engulfed the entire pit, so I assume it was always able to cool itself off.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

A slight breeze, not too extreme. One side is not melted or damaged, fire mostly covered one end, not the melted one


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## seantana (Mar 5, 2015)

How big is the log on the left of the picture? Looks pretty decent sized, and still smoking. Was that laying across the side burning? I just bought a pop up pit and plan to baptize it next week, avoiding this is high on my list of shit.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Yes, log on the ground was removed, was the culprit. Maybe 24"x8"x5"?


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## yesimapirate (Oct 18, 2010)

Dang. I'd be interested to hear what the pop pit people's opinion on the matter. I wonder if it was a combo of heat AND weight. I've put mine thru some pretty high heat situations, but I do my best to not rest the wood on the sides.


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

I've had some pretty decent sized fires in mine with logs hanging over the sides too. There are some slight bend in the side panels but no indication of melting. We did fires every night of a MFS/Main trip earlier this year and I used it on a couple other trips with great success.

Not sure what happened with yours DNWL...but in my experience with mine its far from a typical occurance. Seems like a combination of factors came together to cause it.

I'll admit that I do get kinda paranoid about how people treat mine and I'm always sort of watching what people do with it. Whatever small amount of stress that provides is certainly offset by how compact and lightweight this is and how thoroughly it burns the wood down.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Electric-Mayhem said:


> Whatever small amount of stress that provides is certainly offset by how compact and lightweight this is and how thoroughly it burns the wood down.


I LOVE the minimal ash mess. It's awesome to be able to dump a handful of cold ash in the kitchen trash when you fold up the pit in the morning, instead of dealing with a big can of soggy wet ash.


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## Idaho_ski_bum (Jun 22, 2018)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> After a couple of swims on the Middle Fork someone else lit a fire while I was setting up a tent, and figured it would be no problem to have wood stacked a few inches over the edges. The Night before we had a flickering log across the sides all night. I turn around and what was a really a small fire was roaring with dark orange flames. In about 4 minutes the sides melted or dissolved away.
> 
> The take aways I have;
> 
> ...


Mine did the same thing. First trip, 5 days on the Main Salmon. We had big fires, but I thought it should have held up better than it did. By the last day it was all I could do to get it to fold back down. Melted warped sides and seized up pivot points. That was a year ago... I haven't even looked at it since then


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Could be that there was a bad batch of aluminum in the ones that melted. Maybe they got shipped a batch of Chinesium.....


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Idaho_ski_bum said:


> Mine did the same thing. First trip, 5 days on the Main Salmon. We had big fires, but I thought it should have held up better than it did. By the last day it was all I could do to get it to fold back down. Melted warped sides and seized up pivot points. That was a year ago... I haven't even looked at it since then


What do you want for it?


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Andy H. said:


> Could be that there was a bad batch of aluminum in the ones that melted. Maybe they got shipped a batch of Chinesium.....


That is certainly not out of the question...I sent an email last night, see if they respond.


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## CampfireDefender (Apr 13, 2018)

Hey! 


We know that product! 


Right away I can see exactly what happened. The Pop-Up Pit shown was assembled incorrectly.

First off we're going to definitely get you taken care of here and a replacement set out free of charge. I saw your claim on the Contact Us so i'll get your info through there for the replacement so we're not posting any addresses publicly lol.

Now it's a subtle difference but the Ember Guards ABSOLUTELY need to go on the frame before the Fire Mesh does. I noticed from the picture you have the fire mesh on first then the sides. This essentially has your aluminium sides roasting over an open flame without allowing that heat to dissipate. 

The Pop-Up Pit is specifically engineered to work alongside a fire not against it, which is why it works so well. As a campfire breaths it is forcing air to move along those ember guards causing them to actively cool and release heat. This is accentuated by burning on top of that stainless steel fire mesh as we are allowing maximum airflow into that campfire. By having the ember guards above the campfire we are not allowing that cool air to flow around them which would lead to the melting you're seeing here. 

Even though it does not seem like a lot the spacing between the fire being above the ember guards versus below is about 800F. in the operating temperature. 

I do apologize for the issue you had, as ultimately it is our job to effectively give you instruction on the product which didn't happen in this case. We already have some improvements in the works for better instruction coming from us in the form of a user manual as well as a video series. As I mentioned above we are going to get those replacement sides out to you ASAP free of charge. 


I also really appreciate everyone that took the time to post on this thread recounting their own positive experiences with the product. 


I'll be actively monitoring the thread for the rest of today so if y'all have any other questions, issues, or concerns I'd be more than happy to help!


Cheers,
Triston
Fireside Team


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Notice how well the campfire defender folks treat their customers compared to that guy that builds (or used to build) the best most sophisticated raft frames in the world (he who shall not be named).


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## CampfireDefender (Apr 13, 2018)

Idaho_ski_bum said:


> Mine did the same thing. First trip, 5 days on the Main Salmon. We had big fires, but I thought it should have held up better than it did. By the last day it was all I could do to get it to fold back down. Melted warped sides and seized up pivot points. That was a year ago... I haven't even looked at it since then



Give us a call and lets figure out what happened with your pit! Some of our older units did have an issue with seizing up with sand but that has since been remedied. If that was the case of a manufacture defect, we keep a very strong "do the right thing" warranty and we can get that unit replaced for you. 

Cheers,
Triston
Fireside Team 
623-207-9333


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## cain (Dec 28, 2011)

Triston, You guy's are the cream of the crop when it comes to customer service. You have always stood by your product even when problems where caused by others. You just took care of my issues before I left for a Main trip last week. Thanks and keep up the fine products and customer service.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Awesome support. And lesson learned, manage the set up yourself or make sure everyone knows the details!


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## HitMcG (Jun 6, 2018)

Customer service like that is why I will continue to recommend the Pop Up Pit to anyone looking for a fire pit. You guys really shine!


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## villagelightsmith (Feb 17, 2016)

Tristan's explanation of the assembly order makes perfect sense to me. I puzzled it out myself, limited the size of the fires and have had no problem with either of my fire pits. Aluminum can be melted by wood or charcoal if you really pour the air to the fire, but it's kinda borderline or we wouldn't be able to use aluminum cookware. And I've been doing that for a l-o-n-g time. As for choice of pits, I like the little one for most of the time, but a pair of the big units, with medium sized fires, that looks to be attractive too. But then, you're getting up toward the size/weight/convenience of my old light steel wheelbarrow body fire pit. (Build your fire as big as the 'barrow can hold and roast a young pig in it!)


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## JC5921 (Apr 27, 2012)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> After a couple of swims on the Middle Fork someone else lit a fire while I was setting up a tent, and figured it would be no problem to have wood stacked a few inches over the edges. The Night before we had a flickering log across the sides all night. I turn around and what was a really a small fire was roaring with dark orange flames. In about 4 minutes the sides melted or dissolved away.
> 
> The take aways I have;
> 
> ...


Can we talk about your invisible fire blanket?


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> View attachment 59040





JC5921 said:


> Can we talk about your invisible fire blanket?


Agreed. Nice way to treat a MFS camp. Not.


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## 50119 (Jan 17, 2016)

The River God's will remember the ash all over for next year's lotteries. Or, the fire blanket must have melted away also, which means another warranty claim.


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## 50119 (Jan 17, 2016)

Did a little research on aluminum melting point - between 865 degrees and 1,240 degrees fahrenheit depending on the alloy. Depending on the wood, some hardwoods will produce heat in the range up to 1,800 degrees. Heck, steel will glow red at 900 degrees fahrenheit. Air flow and proximity to aluminum could fan the coals to high temps. I don't think the Pop Up Pit aluminum frames were intended to take the brunt direct contact heat - thats the "job" of the stainless steel mesh on the bottom. Setting wood overhanging the side frames defeat's the intention of keeping everything conained inside safely.


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## Idaho_ski_bum (Jun 22, 2018)

MT4Runner said:


> What do you want for it?


I figured I would lube the pivots and replace the warped sides eventually... just haven't done it yet.


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## Idaho_ski_bum (Jun 22, 2018)

MT4Runner said:


> What do you want for it?


I figured I would lube the pivots and replace the warped sides eventually... just haven't done it yet.


CampfireDefender said:


> Give us a call and lets figure out what happened with your pit! Some of our older units did have an issue with seizing up with sand but that has since been remedied. If that was the case of a manufacture defect, we keep a very strong "do the right thing" warranty and we can get that unit replaced for you.
> 
> Cheers,
> Triston
> ...


This is strong customer service! We most likely had a similar issue as the OP, since we had kids in charge of fire set-up. I'll be in touch to order what I need to replace. Cheers, and thank you.


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## MontanaLaz (Feb 15, 2018)

I am actually the proud owner of one of the prototypes/early versions. They sent the demo one used in the early ads out to me before they production ones were ready so that I could take it on a Smith trip. I so far have gone through one screen and am on my second. The fire blanket is about ready to be replaced. I have had to clean the pivot points and tap out a set screw that stripped, and twice I have had to make some adjustments to the ember guards when they tweaked a bit.

None of this is in any way a complaint. My pit has had some major ******* fires in it on multiple occasions and this thing has held up way better than I expected when I bought it. I am guessing it is somewhere in the 100 fires range on it at this point. This is all expected wear and tear in my book. It is an awesome piece of gear.

I built myself a flat pack as well and it stays in my yard these days. The flat pack will hold a stupid amount of coals but it warps and twists way worse than the pop up and doesn't burn the ash down completely.

Kudos to Triston and crew for an amazing product and even better customer service.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

The customer service was second to none. They even sent me things like a spare screen, which I in no way needed. I changed out parts and set aside the spare items. Won't be river rafting again until next year, but we are talking weeks on the river with a Grand Trip on tap. I will take it along regardless of what equipment rentals we use.


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

Still no comment on the lack of a fire blanket and ash all over the ground at that Middle Fork camp?


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## craig richter (Aug 10, 2020)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> After a couple of swims on the Middle Fork someone else lit a fire while I was setting up a tent, and figured it would be no problem to have wood stacked a few inches over the edges. The Night before we had a flickering log across the sides all night. I turn around and what was a really a small fire was roaring with dark orange flames. In about 4 minutes the sides melted or dissolved away.
> 
> The take aways I have;
> 
> ...


Following the instructions helps. Light weight products need to be used a bit more thoughtfully:
light weight tents, bicycles, kayaks, canoes, rafts (pack rafts). All of this type of gear is great and affords advantages in their realms. With most of these items if you abuse them it's on you; pretty amazing to get bailed out by the manufacturer like Fireside is doing.


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## DidNotWinLottery (Mar 6, 2018)

Conundrum said:


> Still no comment on the lack of a fire blanket and ash all over the ground at that Middle Fork camp?


Ash was from the melt down and heaven for bid some ash landed on the ground, good lord.( I know totally un-natural) We cleaned it up of course. Fire blanket for what? With a raised set up nothing hot touches the ground.


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> Ash was from the melt down and heaven for bid some ash landed on the ground, good lord.( I know totally un-natural) We cleaned it up of course. Fire blanket for what? With a raised set up nothing hot touches the ground.


That was not a sandy beach that you can just fling into the river and then it looks like a sandy beach. Either you left ash behind or your dug up a bunch of dirt and rock to get rid of the ash. Just because you don't think it's an issue doesn't mean others don't. It really doesn't bother me but this is the internet so I'll discuss it.

1-someone in your group didn't follow directions setting up equipment and screwed up the equipment.
2-of course it's the manufacturers problem due to "defective materials" or something.
3-manufacturer is very gracious and hooks you up even after pointing out it was assembled incorrectly.
4-some boaters don't like rolling into a Middle Fork camp where things are left unnatural. It doesn't bother me in the "good lord" statement way that you mentioned. There are not many places left in the continental US where you can float to and see natural states. Again, something like that wouldn't bother me or ruin a trip for me. It's just lazy.
5-you say there is no reason for a fire blanket because nothing hot touches the ground with a raised system. Yet, when I look at your pic, there is a burning log and a bunch of ashes on the ground. Seems like your theory needs work. I'm sure your camp was fine when you left.

I hope you have good water in your future endevours.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

In the "grand scheme of things" it doesn't matter. Catastrophic wildfires leave a LOT more ash and cinders everywhere than all the campfires together.

But in the micro scheme of things, it does matter. Like Conundrum said, "some boaters don't like rolling into a Middle Fork camp where things are left unnatural. There are not many places left in the continental US where you can float to and see natural states. "

It's just common courtesy when camping in a heavily used area, just like picking up micro trash that attracts ants and/or yellowjackets, not peeing on the beach, and not leaving solid human waste and TP scattered around busy campsites. None of those are going to destroy the environment--the Earth is far more resilient than that, and humans do far worse things. It simply leaves the area just a little less clean than you found it, and the next person won't have any compunction about leaving a little ash and a little trash. When you come back a year later, the place looks like a shithole, but no single group did anything all that bad.

Truth? I've used my own pop-up pit a couple of times without the ember mat (not on permitted rivers where they are required), but in spots where others had beach fires. I scooped up and burned as much of their leftover embers/charcoal as possible...but it's entirely possible that I could have had a log roll out and made a mess of my own. I'll use mine faithfully in the future. 

Good discussion, Conundrum.


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## 50119 (Jan 17, 2016)

DidNotWinLottery said:


> Ash was from the melt down and heaven for bid some ash landed on the ground, good lord.( I know totally un-natural) We cleaned it up of course. Fire blanket for what? With a raised set up nothing hot touches the ground.


For all the reasons you well documented, including photographs. Having the permit required fire blanket in one's possession on a river trip such as this is not the same as having the bucket and shovel to knock down a possible wildfire in it's infancy from an out of control "burn". When on river trips, a fire pit of any form, shape, size, manufacture etc and the fire blanket is supposed to be used (in the reg.s) - not only for heat but the debris that escapes from a bonfire. Think of it as a condom for fires & grilling - helps prevent spill out and saves time for pick up.


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

To be fair....a Fire Blanket isn't required on the MFS. Still...its good practice and makes cleanup much easier. I agree that the many fires in the area are a bigger culprit for ash debris...but its not hard to toss down a Fire Blanket to catch embers that will inevitably fall out of the pit.

As MTRunner said... its all cumulative and all the little infractions add up to a bigger problem. The golden rule and all that.


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## 50119 (Jan 17, 2016)

I stand corrected on fire blanket not being required on MF. Force of habit from the Grand trips and it fit's nicely in the ash box since we only use briquettes that burn down to nothing.


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

Really, there are plenty of pieces of ash and burnt wood all over the Church from many forest fires. The problem is every camp on the MFS has one or two spots that make great kitchens and fire pit locations. And it shows. The bigger problem I see is that with privates and commercials having a combined seven launches a day and user impact being looked at, "natural state" is also being looked at. Who is the USFS going to side with when impact becomes an issue-outfitters who use blankets and can say they are experienced in protecting the natural state of an area because they do it every day of the summer and have financial incentive to be good stewards or random privates whose application numbers are going up every year while the average experience level is going down due to all the new boaters coming into the sport?

Once again, it's $50 bucks one time and a couple pounds in the ash can to use one to hopefully protect access. I bet more than one person in this thread has floated logs or ashes the morning after a party night when the ash can was full on day 6 or 7. Forest fires put way more ash in the river. I'm not condoning the practice, just saying keep camps clean so us private folks don't have to someday fend off reasons why private boater numbers should be reduced if the powers that be start looking at limiting numbers.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Conundrum said:


> Once again, it's $50 bucks one time and a couple pounds in the ash can to use one to hopefully protect access. I bet more than one person in this thread has floated logs or ashes the morning after a party night when the ash can was full on day 6 or 7. Forest fires put way more ash in the river. I'm not condoning the practice, just saying keep camps clean so us private folks don't have to someday fend off reasons why private boater numbers should be reduced if the powers that be start looking at limiting numbers.


And back to the topic of this thread: pop-up pits drastically reduce the amount of ash you have to deal with each morning.


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

Agreed. We still bring an ash can but it never gets filled anymore.


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## seantana (Mar 5, 2015)

Just got back from a Lower Salmon where I broke in my popup. Worked great! I picked up a cheap coated fiberglass welding blanket from HF that fits in the bag with the pit for a ground cover, I'll never go back to hauling a 40lb chunk of steel down the river. An entire week's worth of ash took up less than 3" in a trash bucket and it's both easier and cleaner to move around and set up/take down. I'm a believer now.


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## Idaho_ski_bum (Jun 22, 2018)

The Fireside Outdoor crew delivered another great customer service experience. After reading this thread Tristan reached out to me and ended up sending me a new pop-up pit. I hadn't been looking for a freebie, but he insisted that when you pay for a product it should stand up to its intended use and the makers should back it up.Thanks for a great experience guys. I'm back in pop-up pit land.


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## Shaft (Aug 7, 2017)

I just received mine (thanks DownRiver sale) and there are no setup instructions in the box, first thing I did was take a sharpie and wrote "Guards first, mesh second" on the ember guards in case I'm not the one setting it up. Love that it's lightweight and modular, I haven't used it yet but somebody had one on a trip this summer and it worked great.


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## seantana (Mar 5, 2015)

The instructions are on a tag sewn into the bag, FYI.


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