Very important subject, and as Otto says, a small extinguisher doesn’t go far in a real fire.
2 years ago I lost a 1982 GMC 2500 to fire, when I made a series of stupid moves, involving hand priming the
carburetor with the air filter off, driving a few yards, and went in the house without checking or replacing the air filter.The truck was fortunately outside not near any structures. As I have reconstructed after the fact,
Evidently a carburetor backfire ignited the carburetor , it sat and burned for a while , heated up the float bowl, which
then continued to spew fuel into the fire until things ignited around it, and once the rubber items start to burn, it really gained momentum. A neighbor walking past came to the door and said ,Hey, there’s smoke coming from your truck!.
A brief try with a small extinguisher, and then a long garden hose with only a trickle of water, and it was the local volunteer fire department got the fire out finally with a big water hose. But things were so badly burned I parted out the truck and it was scrapped.I didn’t mess with an insurance claim.So, an embarrassing bunch of things done wrong.
But a critical thing that happened is: when the engine compartment was fully afire and the wiring was melting
the starter started to turn and the truck, being in bull low was motoring forward under starter motor power and trying
to climb a steep bank it was parked against. It only stopped because it got too steep to climb. Imagine if it was parked
in front of your garage and drove itself fully in flames into the garage ………….
So I’ve been thinking about how , if you have a small fire while working on a truck, a regular spray can of CO2
could be very effective without making the mess of a powder extinguisher.
I haven’t seen this for sale , but I am still looking.
Still, the small extinguisher is the most basic necessity around car work.
And a big one as well!
C
