Fire Extinguisher

[Andy Bennett]

And if anyone has any doubt about the value of a £15 extinguisher, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44icPfGi1M

Andy

[A G Wood]

As with many others, one in the fun car, one in the regular car, one close to the kitchen and a bloody big one in the garage. I personally take fuel fires seriously. In my working life I've seen several vehicles brew up in the workshop, mostly due to carelessness, and only the timely deployment of the nearest extinguisher prevented a calamity on each occasion. Including one unlucky former workmate who first got his overalls accidentally doused in petrol, then inadvertently set himself and the truck he was working on alight and then attempted to run out of the shop (long story, he received painful but amazingly superficial burns). I put the extinguishers in the vehicles not so much to protect them, but rather after hearing about a fatal accident a few years ago here, where members of the public were beaten back by heat and unable to extricate a trapped but conscious occupant from a crashed car before the initially minor fuel fire [which could have been put out with a small extinguisher] consumed the car. Bill and Erich, I've done the same instinctive "grab the red hot wire" thing. Luckily without too much personal damage. Thumbs up here for battery isolation!

[Charles P]

And if anyone has any doubt about the value of a £15 extinguisher, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44icPfGi1M

Andy

It's also a salutary lesson about hubris and generally being an arse.


Charles

[Bruce Nicholls]

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.

My lesson on extinguishers came as a child when on holiday the caravan next to ours burst into flames. My father grabbed our extinguisher and fired it off extinguishing the blaze. The owner of the caravan was not in the least bit grateful and only complained of the mess the powder made. Needless to say they did not replace our extinguisher. It did however save our caravan joining theirs in the fire so was well used. I have them in all vehicles and houses (when I lived in one).

[Colin Morgan]

From the number of incidents, this would seem to be an important topic. I have had one fire that went out when I isolated the battery, but an extinguisher might well have been necessary. 

In terms of type, the advice on-line seems to be to carry a dry powder extinguisher?  e.g. "According to the RAC, the best type of car fire extinguisher uses dry powder and has a rating of BC or ABC. The extinguisher should also carry the BS Kitemark to prove its certification, as well as a CE Mark."  Another option might be a foam extinguisher? 

The recommended weight for a (small) car seems to be 1 or 2 kg.

[Reckless Rat]

Whilst Dry Powder is the most polyvalent of extiguisher types, if you use such an extinguisher on a fire it will put out the flames, but remember that if temperatures are high things can always reignite.

It is worth noting that Ammonium Phosphate powder will also put YOU out if you inhale it.

[Charles P]

Also if you use your car in MUK regulated motorsport you need AFFF, not dry powder.

[Chris KC]

Back to Bill's point, there is a lot to be said for leather driving gloves.

And A. G. Wood's story, any time you spill fuel / solvents on your clothing go and change. Not just about fire; I ignored a paraffin spill on my sock for a few hours because I was busy trying to fix something, ended up with a reaction to the stuff which caused my ankle to double in size...

On the topic of extinguisher selection, a question: Of course you want to put it out, but don't some of those extinguisher media (dry powder?) in themselves do extensive damage to your car? Surely a factor to consider. I may be wrong about this and hoping someone knows definitively.

[JohnD]

I saw these advertised last week, look really effective and with no experation date are good for keeping in the car

https://firesafetystick.com/

[richard wyatt]

sounds too good to be true-will it put out snake oil fires ?