Thats all my parents ever carried, and I saw it in use once, did a great job of putting out an engine fire in an oldish Jag.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon3950
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Thats all my parents ever carried, and I saw it in use once, did a great job of putting out an engine fire in an oldish Jag.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon3950
Personnally, I would not drill into the body unless you are 100% certain there are no cables etc close by.
I have mounted mine on the load barrier with bolts, not screws, for ease of access.
Also remember to remove every 6 months & shake upside down to airiate the powder, as it will settle & compact.
I support the prior comments regarding the effectiveness of the powder extinguishers, as they pretty limted. Twice I have used mine to assist other folk, once was a futile attempt, as when they opened the bonnet, whoosh, more oxygen & the plastics were away, Toyota LC write off as gutted by the time the RFS arrived.
Second was when following an historic Jag, and the rear drum brake was on fire, put out the small fire, but he drove off not even allowing the brake to cool, be checked etc. Also no offer of recompense.:censored:
Honestly while I carry one, plus a blanket, an engine bay fire is futile in attemptinting to extinguish your self, my experience with Mining & Construction machines require sensors in the risk areas with high volume explosive supressent to be distributed as a fire control. This happens in milliseconds. We would not have exited the vehile in this time, let alone grabbed the extinguisher.
However, precautions should be taken, as we do not know when & where need may arise, could be the barbeque, etc.
I've just fitted a couple of fire extinguishers to 2 of my cars using this bracket.
Vehicle Fire Extinguisher Bracket | The Bracketeer Australia
Given that everyone here says the small extinguishes are useless (although that's exactly what I've got in the car now) I'm going down the Firestryker path straight away. There's an RAC 15% discount happening at the moment and exclusive dealers are ARB.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon3950
As a firefighter who has attended lots of vehicle fires, my advice to you is the same as Tombie in post 6, don't attempt to put it out yourself.
The risk to you and others is not worth it. You don't have adequate training in what to expect from a class B fire, you don't have adequate training to use extinguishers, you don't have the correct PPE/PPC. These escalate very quickly with all the combustibles available to the fire.
If it all goes to ****, you will get severely burned.
You’ll notice in the Firestryker videos you have to get close to the fire. Not a good idea without PPC, the radiant heat from these types of fires will be not insubstantial.
It looks like the fire in the car is a very small static petrol pooling with no other materials involved rather than fuel under pressure. IF it were a leak, there is still the issue of reignition due to residual heat and available fuel, all 3 sides of the fire triangle are still present.
Only 2 years ago we attended 'a run of the mill vehicle alight call'. When we arrived on scene a VW Passat was well alight, but on the side of the road were 2 people, one of whom was severely burnt.
The driver had attempted to use his 2Kg dry chem extinguisher to put out an engine bay fire. As soon as he raised the bonnet and introduced extra oxygen, whooshker, he was engulfed in flames and wearing synthetic clothes only exacerbated the effects of the fire.
This particular fire took the use of 2 BAO’s, 2 fire trucks, 8 firefighters, multiple reignitions and over 4,000 litres of water to finally extinguish and prevent it extending into a bush fire, plus, ambulance, SCAT and police.
The poor driver will no doubt require years of plastic surgery and be left with permanent scars.
Small vehicle fires can quickly get out of hand and become raging infernos. These small extinguishers should not be marketed as suitable for extinguishing vehicle fires, putting out small camp fires, yes but not vehicle fires.
We have a saying, that if you don’t have enough S*** (agent) to extinguish a Class B fire, contain it and let it burn.
All the more reason to have your car regularly serviced and checked, or if you're capable, do some preventative checks yourself. Does not take long to have a quick look and check for loose hoses, battery terminals etc.
Especially ahead of road trips, get your vehicle checked over.