Fire Extinguisher

[SJT]

I am a great believer in "ITS BETTER LOOKING AT IT THAN FOR IT"

Stephen

[Alan]

All my Austin’s have fire extinguishers too, but the real trick with car fires is to know when to put it out and when to simply walk (run) away. A fuel tank explosion will likely take you with it.

[Chris KC]

I quite agree Alan, and it cuts both ways. I watched a VW Beetle turn to ashes while the owner waited 15 or 20 mins for the fire brigade to show up. I offered to douse it with my extinguisher when there was no more than a bit of smoke coming out from the boot lid but he just wouldn't have it. Possibly the insurance cheque was more alluring than the car?

[Reckless Rat]

I fitted a 1kg dry powder extinguisher in my RP in order to comply with competition regs for a classic hillclimb I used to do. Several years later I was on an outing with my local old car club when we were doing a parade around the town of Bessèges during its annual Chestnut festival. In front of me at the time was another club member in his very tidy Renault 4CV. All of a sudden flames were seen to come out of the vents on the engine cover but he was unaware (rear engine). Fortunately the very loud klaxon on my RP attracted his attention and we were able to stop & use my extinguisher to put out the fire before it did any lasting damage. He very kindly (and probably with a great deal of relief) replaced it for me. A split fuel line was the cause.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
Jack Reacher.

[Steve kay]

Can I join the chorus in favour of having extinguishers, not just in the kitchen and the workshop, but in the cars. Mercifully I have never yet needed one myself, but a couple of times in recent years have come to a halt and jumped out to offer asistance. Both cases were on competitive events and the crew had already begun to deal with smoke or flames.  I might be a little anxious if I had one of these very moderns, where I have been told it is nessecary to plug a tablet or smartphone into the onboard computer, which will then identify the location of the blaze.

[Dave Mann]

I used to carry a fire extinguisher until one day it decided to go off all on it's own filling the the car with dry powder, fortunately it was a quite road and I pulled over and hurriedly exited the car followed by a cloud of the stuff.

[Bill Sheehan]

As with Ruairidh, I've carried one in every car.  A couple of times that has helped other people, even though the recipients haven't offered to pay for replacement.  I was first prompted to buy them when smoke came out from under the Chummy dash (wire chafed through and touching metal)) and my solution was to grab the wires and rip them out.  Wrong move - the wires were red hot with hot melted plastic - the result was several fingers burnt through to the bones.   Cheers,  Bill in Oz

[Erich]

I carry one, have two in my shop. Also install battery cut off switches which work in case of an electrical fire. I learned my lesson early in a Mini when the exhaust melted the insulation on the battery cable(which was too close). I had gotten back into the car and noticed nice black smoke pouring from the tunnel. Needless to say, reaching under the car and trying to pull the flaming battery cable away from the body and exhaust with a handkerchief was not a pleasant experience. Cheap insurance and remember to keep it up to date.

Erich in Seattle.

[Dave Wortley]

A friend of mine had a video of his nearly new Jag burning out on a layby off the A515. He didn't replace it with another Jag after many years of Jag ownership. It was an electrical fault.

[Martin Prior]

I've always carried an extinguisher. As has already been said, why not?

I've needed to use mine twice in 45 years, on both occasions to deal with other people's smouldering moderns.