The purpose of a Fire Extiguisher

Agreed on your comment/suggestion for manufacturers..........FYI this is a repost.........from another thread if you do a search.....its all good though......

But you have a good point. Why not have a fire suppression system installed in the vehicle in the engine bay area and perhaps even in the cabin area, by the footwells. This could be a good preventative method, which would not only benefit car owners but i'm sure would be of interest to insurance companies. When they have to write off a car due to fire perhaps this could save the car (perhaps not) but also could help prevent or minimize injury due to burns and smoke inhalation and anything around the car ie. grass, buildings, whatever.

Chris

 

I've posted this before.

If your car has an engine fire, get the hell away from it. Don't try to put it out yourself. Call the fire department.

The fumes are toxic, things can and will explode and throw things on you that will stick and burn, etc.

There are numerous articles on the web and research articles on this. All of them give the same advice.

Here's a checklist:

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/carfires.php

and here's another:

http://www.nsc.org/library/facts/carfire.htm

There are many more.

There are many, many stories about people injured trying to put a car fire by themselves. It is best to follow the advice on the links above.

 

Here's another excellent article:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1207557&page=1

 

I think it gives a person a false sense of security, belieiving they can fight a car fire, much like the little chain lock people put on a door thinking it gives some protection. I've said it before and I'll say it again. LET IT BURN, get yourself a safe distance away and call 911. If it burns down, take the insurance and buy a new one. It's like a bank teller puting his or her life at risk trying to save the insured money during a robbery.....Charlie

 

It'd probably be best to have one to help someone who is trapped in a car just about to go up in flames or for some other unpredictable situation. The consensus is that if it's your car then let it go. Someone said that even if you put it out you will always have a burnt toast smell when you turn on the AC.

 

Can you imagine a car builder offering a fire supression system in their car.

That would go over as big as United Airlines giving you a parachute with every seat.


I don't think so.

And we have not even started to talk about the production costs.

 

I agree with that too.

Just want to make sure nobody gets the fire extinguisher and then thinks they should pop open a burning hood to try and put an engine fire out.

 

It would have to be done subtley and smoothly without interrupting modern safety standards. It would be a truly innovative and spectacular platform for cars of the future to leave no holes in the safety net. By appearing so concerned with safety, however, the marque would be advertising that they have a DANGEROUS product (which we all know) but the general public will flip about it because if they make it safer, it MUST be because it's more DEADLY!!

 

Required by Federal law.

In the history of jet passenger aviation how many lives have been saved by them?


In the same period how many lives have been saved by government investigation of mechanical failures of aircraft and federal required changes in either design, construction or maint procedures?

 

Can not believe people kept driving by like nothing happening.....

 

I've put out a couple of automotive fires with the extinguishers that I carry in all my cars at all times.
Its not rocket science and all recipients have been extremely grateful.
Common sense; if its an inferno.. get out the marshmellows.

Slowly puts hand up... And yes once on one of mine.

 

That video just shows you can't rely on the fire dept.

By the time they get there it is too late (and they're clearly not in any hurry).

 

I agree 100%. I am a photojournalist for a farely large newspaper and have photographed many car fires. They happen way more often then you would think. They happen very fast and are particularly violent. They do not tend to explode like on TV in my experience, but do spew ( is that a word?) out many burning dangerous things for sometimes 20 or 30 feet away.
Stay away. It's just a car. I have seen many people injured trying to get something out at the last minutes. The fumes are very toxic.

 

Not even try to put out a fire? Not even make an attempt? I grew up with old carburated cars. Most had no aircleaner because you were constantly fiddling with the choke or something to try to get the damned thing to start. Carb fires were sometimes an everyday occurence, as was PUTTING THEM OUT. I couldnt even imagine the number of cars I seen or owned with blistered paint on the hood from REPEATED carb fires. The fact is that most fires dont start off as raging infernos, at least on older cars. It can take a minute or two for the heat to build up to a point you could lose the car. I once had a rear axle come out of an old Pontiac I put together, and once I was stopped, the brake shoes caught fire. I used my jacket to smother out the flames, ruined my jacket, and was driving my car again the next day. I didnt think twice about trying to save the car. I have seen numerous Ferrari 308's that had very minor engine fires that barely managed to damage the paint, and really did nothing more that burn a few wires. Those cars were most likely repaired, or at worst parted out to supply the rest of us vultures with replacement parts. Letting those cars burn to the ground needlessly would have been almost criminal if someone with the means to stop it just stood there and did nothing. By all means, get everyone out and away from the car first, but there is no need to panic and run for the hills like like a sissy thinking the car is going to instantly explode. Maybe 30 years of hollywood showing every car wreck exploding in a fireball has convinced you its true, but reality is far from hollywood. I hope some of you never own a real vintage Ferrari.

 

Always remember"Fire Bad!" and also "Fire Bad,but Fire with no extinguisher even worse!" Italian car burn very brightly!

 

yeh, just what we need. a federal bureaucrat mandating the manufacture of 100 million fire extinguishers. that i have to pay for. to put out the odd car fire. i'm sure many people will post about how common car fires are. i can tell you in my 42 years, i have never had one or know anybody who had one or seen one i thought i could have put out. here is another idea. make everybody wear a flameproof driving suit. that should help out the manufacturers. or better yet, stop trying to save me. if i want a fire extinguisher or a driving suit, let me go out and buy one.

 

Now you see the true purpose of government.

If you want to fit a fire suppression system to your car, you'll find that the good ones are expensive.

If Big Brother mandates mass production, the costs per will be lower, and everyone has to pay into the pot.

So: If you want something cheaply, get Big Brother to force everyone to have one.
... whether they want it or not.

(The "violence of faction" as discussed by Hamilton in The Federalist)

Of course, are we any better off with bureaucrats deciding that Halon is worse for the environment than a burning car (and passengers)?

I'd like to fit aircraft type halon suppression systems to my cars -- not just the Ferrari, but the turbo'd EVO too -- but, oh yeah, Halon is "bad".

Next best thing: update those fuel lines.

 

Thats something no one considers either. A fire IS a very real possibility in a small airplane, happens quite often, and usually the plane burns completely. Yet almost NONE have any fire extinguishers on board. Mostly because smart people have figured out that more than likely someone will be hurt, and getting away from the plane is important. Secondly, if there is a fire, usually the tanks are ruptured, and no hand held extinguisher will do much.

But for those of you who feel a lot safer with that life vest under your seat in an airliner, you should probably know....

On impact, at stall speed, no airliner would fare very well with the water. In fact, with impact loads exceeding 9 g's, the seats in most airliners are gonna all break loose from the floor and move to the nose, at about 100 mph. About the only airplane that can hit the water and give you a good chance of escape, is a slow flying, high wing, fixed gear airplane like a Cessna 172. Most Bonanzas and Mooneys skip and nose dive into the water at high speed, or cartwheel when a wing tip catches the water. Either way its usually fatal.

But I think these discussions will have me looking at something to put in the cars, just in case.

 

Thank you for some common sense.