Fire Extinguisher

I used to own a pure electric vehicle, the Corbin Sparrow, of which only a few hundred were made. Because the designer didn't have any electrical background, they were incredibly unsafe, and at least a few of them caught on fire in the battery compartments. I carried a fire extinguisher in that vehicle!

I also remember being in a car when I was in gradeschool as a fire started in the engine compartment. We all calmly got out of the car and watched the whole vehicle burn down.

Because I know that any vehicle can burn, I keep a fire extinguisher at the carport of my home, just in case.

But I don't carry a fire extinguisher in the Prius, simply for cost/benefit reasons. The costs are: the space it would take up, the way it would block access to other things, the need to check it's charge and recharge/replace every so often, and the possibility that in an accident it could become a missle injuring a passenger. Given that the only benefit is possibly saving some hassle and my comprehensive deductible in a very unlikely car fire, it doesn't seem worthwhile to me.

 

I bolted a large ABC extinguisher to the plastic box under the back. I peeled back the sound blanket then re-glued it. That way it doesn't roll around. However, I have fire extinguisher training and know when to bail out and move away.

Ron

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ron L. @ Jul 22 2006, 04:10 PM) [snapback]290659[/snapback]</div>

Ron,
For those of us who don't have formal fire extinguisher training and want to carry a fire extinguisher, what are some of the major basics that we should know please?
thansk
Dave

 

I keep mine in the garage.

 

I cannot imagine anyone not having an extinguisher in a car.

Way back when I was in college a the oil pressure tubing (plastic hose) on my 1976 Plymouth Fury melted off and sprayed oil all over the headers. I was trying to drive home for the holidays and a tucker honked at me and basically squeezed me off the road in the middle of Chcago. He hopped out with a fire extinguisher and put out the flames and then got on the CB for a mechanic to come out and give me a hand as it was night time in an unfamiliar area.

The only other time was last year. When I went to warm up my car everything turned on and worked ok but when I looked back at it a few seconds later it was full of smoke. This was inside the passenger compartment....

A hot lead had rubbed against the metal and shorted out creating sparks which ignited the supposedly flame resistant carpet. This carpet and sound deadening material proceeded to ignite. I did have a fire extinguisher but the fire was so deep and buried under the carpet that i couldn't get to it all. A fire truck showed up shortly and they managed to completely soak the car with foam.

Those were my experiences.

Every car should have a fire extinguisher and at least the primary extinguisher needs to be within reach of the drive in case the fire happens while moving.

 

Know your limitations. If you feel o.k. with a fire ext., then use it. Try out a cheap one first. Pull the pin, point, shoot. It is worth 15 bucks to do it once in pretend mode if you ever plan to do it for real. I have put out several car fires, as a former police officer, before the fire trucks arrived. Someone in a previous post said don't open the hood. Great idea. The extra air (ox) fuels the fire and could be worse. I have taken a 28" billy stick, strike the hood 6" away from a seam near the smoke, it wrinkles up and makes a hole, in goes the fire ext. Only try this if you think you can...if not...stay far away from any fire.

Keep an ext. in the car. Even if you don't want to use it...it may come in handy for someone else, if you roll up on a problem.
john

 

The only reason to carry an extinguisher to me is to save life. the problem is that the ones that will work on a vehicle fir would also seriously harm or kill the occupants. A wool blanket would do better to protect the person and put out flames. However with most vehicle fires they tend to spread fast and you may not have time to get the blanket. Getting the person out of the vehicle is my only concern. If I a the only person there I am still going to put some distance between me and the vehicle because of the dangerous chemicals and dang those firs tend to burn very hot.

The only experience with vehicle fires I have; have been in military vehicles that were blown up or shot up. And with those you have to watch out for the Kevlar because if it burns and you inhale the particles you may develop respiratory distress up to an hour later. As far as I know modern cars don’t have Kevlar but all the other things cant be good for you either.


Oh and the abc powder stuff turns into a putty like substance when it gets whet so when it gets into your eyes and lugs, it sucks. The few people I have treated who inhaled that powder had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator wile we did a Pulmonary lavage to save their lives. The halon consumes oxygen and we need that to live. In general I don’t think the fire extinguisher is going to do much unless it’s a small fire. Don’t get me wrong if you want to cary one and it makes you feel safe go for it. im sure someone has been able to put out a small fire and save their car but I am not going to waist time.

 

Some fire extinguisher basics...

There are three main classes of fires.

A = Dry fires, ie, paper, wood, carpet, etc.
B = Liquid fires, fuel, oil, etc.
C = Electrical fires. Can be either liquid or paper. Once the electricity is shut off, it becomes an A or B fire.

CO2 and Halon fire extinguishers are usually BC, meaning they won't work well on a pile of cardboard. If you go to a hardware store and just buy a fire extinguisher, it will be a dry chemical extinguisher, which is an ABC extinguisher.

They are almost completely maintainence free. Just look at them every so often to make sure they are still charged. Its very cheap to recharge them, and if its a little non-rechargeable, then you just throw it away after it is used.

They can only be used once. You can't use half of it, and then save the other half. Once it has been discharged, it must be replaced, or recharged.

I really recommend trying one out sometime. If you expect to know how in an emergency, its worth the few bucks to try one in a calm situation.

Here is how you use em.

Remember. PASS.

Pull, aim, squeeze, sweep.

Hold the extinguisher upright and PULL the pin.

AIM the extinguisher at the fire. You want to aim at the base of the fire, not the flames up high.

SQUEEZE the lever. You want to do it in one good hit if you can, not little spurts.

SWEEP the extinguisher. You want to start at the front end of the fire, and sweep over the flaming area, sweeping along the fire.

Enjoy!

Of course it is important to just get people out and to safety, and there are times when a fire extinguisher isn't worth it.

But the whole 'let it burn, thats what insurance is for' ethic isn't sustainable. If you bought a Prius for the lower emissions, one burning Prius will undo the efforts of thousands of other Prius owners with what it spews into the air. If you have a brake fire, put it out! The car may still get totaled, but at least you didn't dump a ton of harsh pollutants into the air.

If there is an electrical fire inside the core of the car, you probably won't be able to put it out. But thats not a very common type of fire.

A small automotive halon or CO2 doesn't take much space, and if you are looks concerned, some are very nice looking, and have cool roof mounts and stuff. It is worth carrying a small one.

peace,
sam

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(phidauex @ Mar 31 2007, 01:53 AM) [snapback]415367[/snapback]</div>

Hey thanx I didn’t even think about the little fires that can happen. I agree a break fire or something like that would benefit from a fire extinguisher. Like I said the only experience I have with vehicle fires have been in a combat zone. So when someone says car fire I think huge inferno but you are right some fires can be put out with ease. I am going to get an extinguisher now. Seriously I would hate to watch my entire car burn to nothing because I didn’t have an extinguisher in the trunk or wereever it is you are supposed to mount it. over a small fire. this is a very good point again thanx for that.

 

The only vehicle that needs a fire extinguisher in it runs laps on the Indy 500 or an a 1/4 mile track. IMO, a 110 hp car with a fire extinguisher strapped firmly to it looks silly. Besides, it's gonna take you longer to locate and use a fire extinguisher than to get the #!@% out of the car before you get burned.

 

I agree if the fire is that big just get out and get away but like phidauex said if you have a small fire like a brak fire or something you are going to wish you had that fire extinguisher.

 

I keep my fire extinguisher velcroed under the front of the driver's seat of my Prius. It's one of the small kinds marketed for cars that lasts years without attention.

Clearly a fire extinguisher is not going to be useful in all cases of fire. If there's any kind of major fire in my car, I'm going to just get everyone out as quickly as possible and not risk my life or anyone else's trying to save the car.

But it's not just for my car. It's for any situations I happen upon when I'm in my car or my car is nearby. Years ago, I was driving up to a house to pick someone up and a candle in the back window of a nearby parked car caught my attention. I thought it an odd Christmas decoration to have in a car. Then as I drove up to it, I suddenly realized that it was a small fire in the roof of the car and there was someone standing there helplessly. I later learned that he had been having a problem with the dome light and as he was fiddling with it, a spark caused the ceiling covering to catch on fire. It was a very small fire at first, but nobody had a fire extinguisher handy and it just grew and grew. For the first minute or two, a fire extinguisher clear could easily have put out the fire with no danger. By the time the fire department arrived, though, the entire interior of the car had burned up! If I had had my fire extinguisher under my front seat then, I could have saved this poor fellow's car.

Another time, I was driving on a local road and noticed a car pulled off to the side that seemed to have engine trouble. There was some smoke or steam visible coming from the engine compartment. It was late at night and I stopped, but all I could do was call the fire department and wait. As I watched over several minutes, what started as a very small fire slowly spread over the whole car and by the time the fire department arrived, the car was ruined.

I could imagine happening on an accident with someone pinned in a car with a small fire starting in part of the car. If I didn't have my fire extinguisher and had to just helplessly watch as the whole car and the person were engulfed in flames, I sure wouldn't feel good about my decision not to carry the extinguisher.

I finally got an extinguisher for my previous car and kept it in the trunk, but when I got my Prius it occurred to me that keeping it somewhere I could get to it faster in an emergency made sense. Hence the current location.

Perhaps the most useful thing having the extinguisher does is makes me think about what I would do if there were a fire. Any big fire or anything near the gas tank or in an accident where there was or might be leaking gas I would never even think of trying to put out unless someone's life was at risk and there was no safer way to help that person.

Having the extinguisher under the seat doesn't take up any space I'd use for anything else, it cost about $10 to buy in the first place, and in no way inconveniences me. All it does is gives me options.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sunnyvale Prius @ Mar 31 2007, 04:37 AM) [snapback]415408[/snapback]</div>

Well said, thanks!

You are exactly right, a big fire won't be helped by an extinguisher, but most big fires start as tiny fires. If you put it out while it is tiny, you make everyone safer, and protect their property.

The "only race cars need fire extinguishers" argument doesn't fly, its the "its not MY problem" attitude that puts a lot of people at risk.

I put out a small engine fire when my neighbor was working on his car. He was using a torch to heat a bolt, and hit a patch of oil, which ignited. I had a CO2 in the back of my car which was right next to his, so I pulled it out, puffed out the fire, and it was done. There was NO damage to his car, since I put it out so fast. If I hadn't had it nearby, he would have lost the entire car, and possibly put himself in danger as the gas lines started to burn.

Fire is a real danger, and the fire extinguisher is cheap, easy to use insurance against many types of fire. Stash it under the seat, and its there in case you need it. You'll feel like a right idiot if you need it, and it isn't there!

-sam

 

The owners manual says what type of extinguisher to use... I just read it since I purchased car last weekend. Can't remember which one it specified, but we all got an owners manual with our cars. BTW, My '71 VW Superbeetle had the battery under the back seat. My HEAVY brother sat on the back seat and the springs short-circuited the battery, catching the back seat on fire. He jumped out and fired off the extinguisher I wisely carried, getting that white crap all over the car and K-Mart parking lot. I would expect my 2007 Prius to be a little better designed (and newer) than that car. I'm not too worried about it burning... maybe when it is 15 years old and is on its 2nd traction battery and the fuel lines are cracking... I'll start packing an extinguisher.

 

We recently witnessed a collission where an old Volvo ran a red light and got hit by a Sears Delivery truck.

We were turning left, and immediately (less than five seconds) after the collision, turned left to offer assitance. There were flames in the engine area, the hood was tornup, and open flames underneath the car. People ran from nearby homes with fire extinguishers in hand, and we put out the fire. We could not open the car door to get the injured drive out of the car. Once the fire was out, we could wait for the Fire Department to get the injured drive out of the car using power tools.

The bottom line is that small household fire extinguishers (it took three of them) were adequate to put out the fire before it became threatening to the driver. So, I am interested now in figuring out where to put a fire extinguisher in my car. Not for a fire in the Prius, but to help others who may be in need.