Thread: In fear of catching fire, who has stories? and what to do about it?

Ok a fire story for you that taught me a few important lessons about 15 years ago. A few of us had been camping in the high plains for a few days and we eventually were coming back towards Mansfield. I was in my 1990 RRC heading up to the mount Buller village when my mate behind me called on the uhf to say there was a huge cloud of smoke coming from the rangie, car was running fine. I pull up and open the bonnet and everything that was plastic or rubber was on fire or melting, belts, hoses, rad surround, fan with huge clouds of toxic smoke and flames, the paint on the bonnet was starting to blister. I didn't have a fire extinguisher in the car!!! Fortunately my mate had an old yellow one that is now illegal and we just managed to put out the fire by using the whole contents of the extinguisher. Worked out that the fire was caused by a burst oil cooler hose spraying oil all over the drivers side exhaust header. I had never checked the hose to see if it was hard from old age and heat. Total bill in 2003 was $6000 but no problem because I was insured - wrong, insurance company refuses to pay because fire was caused by a mechanical fault. I stupidly thought that a comprehensive policy covers minor things like fire. It took three phone discussions and a threat to go to the insurance industry ombudsman before they realised that they had made a mistake and paid for the repairs.
Lessons
Always have a fire extinguisher (I now have 3!)
Check important hoses tha carry inflammable stuff and run near hot bits of the engine
Be prepared to fight the insurance company if the worst happens

Hope this puts your mind at ease
Nick

Originally Posted by Nick S

Ok a fire story for you that taught me a few important lessons about 15 years ago. A few of us had been camping in the high plains for a few days and we eventually were coming back towards Mansfield. I was in my 1990 RRC heading up to the mount Buller village when my mate behind me called on the uhf to say there was a huge cloud of smoke coming from the rangie, car was running fine. I pull up and open the bonnet and everything that was plastic or rubber was on fire or melting, belts, hoses, rad surround, fan with huge clouds of toxic smoke and flames, the paint on the bonnet was starting to blister. I didn't have a fire extinguisher in the car!!! Fortunately my mate had an old yellow one that is now illegal and we just managed to put out the fire by using the whole contents of the extinguisher. Worked out that the fire was caused by a burst oil cooler hose spraying oil all over the drivers side exhaust header. I had never checked the hose to see if it was hard from old age and heat. Total bill in 2003 was $6000 but no problem because I was insured - wrong, insurance company refuses to pay because fire was caused by a mechanical fault. I stupidly thought that a comprehensive policy covers minor things like fire. It took three phone discussions and a threat to go to the insurance industry ombudsman before they realised that they had made a mistake and paid for the repairs.
Lessons
Always have a fire extinguisher (I now have 3!)
Check important hoses tha carry inflammable stuff and run near hot bits of the engine
Be prepared to fight the insurance company if the worst happens

Hope this puts your mind at ease
Nick

Interesting, the only stories i myself have heard are all of rangie's catching fire from split transmission hoses... quite a coincidence. Shame to hear about the insurance company, but i guess its pretty normal to hear of their hesitation to pay out.

what to do about it?
have good insurance.

it's pretty rare for a car fire to not end in a write off.

Many years ago , and I mean many, I was employed by the Department of Civil Aviation at Brisbane airport.
Part of our training was fire fighting, and part of that was putting out petrol fires with dry powder.

The aim of dry powder is to smother the source of flame and deny it oxygen. To do this you have to completely cover the source of the flame with dry powder and it can reignite at any time , if enough heat remains, so you have to stick around and resquirt until everything cools beyond ignition point.
In short you cannot just point it at a flame and squirt, as it will achieve nothing, you have to get to the base of the flame.
I was able to put out a pommie barbeque in Riyadh, where they had added a litre of kero to a Weber type one, which soaked into the base and then lit it causing the base, the pergola etc to ignite. It was all very amusing.

BCF (yellow) was the most effective and AFAIK are still approved for use in aircraft, although very bad for the ozone layer. AFAIK the Chinese still use it, along with asbestos etc .
Regards Philip A

The water type extinguisher mentioned by Aaron IIa is also a good recommendation

A very good one indeed.

Totally self-contained, sealed contents, good grab handle & being pressurised one can stand well away from the flames. Can be clamped in place.

Also available in Foam type.


Where does one store any fire equipment?

In the boot area? Not really, 'cos if you get rear ended what you gonna do? Door/ lid is jammed shut.

I see small extinguishers fixed to the rear of cargo barriers & behind the centre box (dangerous). How you going to get to it, from the rear? Doubt that if the door is jammed.

My 1kg is fixed to the Driver's door bottom sill where I can grab it if/when I bale out so at least I have something to try to do the business with & it is available to others who want to offer assistance even if I was unconscious.

So many scenarios & possibilities & depends where one travels but at the end of the day it will be a compromise.

Maybe the self contained Airport Fire Tender is the job after all. Diesel, 6 or 8 wheel drive, lots of storage, carries it's own water & foam etc & maybe it could even conquer Big Red, albeit slowly. Job done. Chuck the Deafeners, Discos & RaRos et al, go AFT.

BTW, when I camp I always take a little squirt bottle filled with water and a dash of detergent.

If water is scarce , I put out the fire before going to bed by squirting it with the mix. I can extinguish a small fire with only about 500Cc of mix.
It also has the advantage of being portable enough to squirt onto the exhaust if you were to get spinifex on it, although I haven't had this happen.

Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Many years ago , and I mean many, I was employed by the Department of Civil Aviation at Brisbane airport.
Part of our training was fire fighting, and part of that was putting out petrol fires with dry powder.

The aim of dry powder is to smother the source of flame and deny it oxygen. To do this you have to completely cover the source of the flame with dry powder and it can reignite at any time , if enough heat remains, so you have to stick around and resquirt until everything cools beyond ignition point.
In short you cannot just point it at a flame and squirt, as it will achieve nothing, you have to get to the base of the flame.
I was able to put out a pommie barbeque in Riyadh, where they had added a litre of kero to a Weber type one, which soaked into the base and then lit it causing the base, the pergola etc to ignite. It was all very amusing.

BCF (yellow) was the most effective and AFAIK are still approved for use in aircraft, although very bad for the ozone layer. AFAIK the Chinese still use it, along with asbestos etc .
Regards Philip A

BCF you say? Mutter mutter mutter.

I carried a small BCF in my Hi-Ace for years when they were supposed to be the ants pants & freely available so when the the time came to hand them in & were phased out I gave it to my S in Law who at time was a Firie (Now a Commander ffs) believing he would hand it in as required, but oh no not him, & I later saw it fixed to his Hillclimb Racing car. Barsteward!

Hi I lost my first Rangie in 1989 from fire.
This after spending 25k rebuilding it.
It was a 1978 2 Door.
I went down in the Rangie to a place called Harvey south of Perth to collect my HQ wagon that was stolen and found in Warroona, near Harvey.
i was driving the HQ back, and my wife with my mum and my kids who were 4 and 5 at the time driving the Rangie back.
After about 20 mins of driving back I noticed flashing lights in the rear view mirror some distance back on a long straight section of the road, thinking my wife wanted me to stop for one of e kids for a pee, I turned around and went back.
The closer I got I could see the flames coming from the Bonet.
It was also still rolling in the gutter on the side of the road with the fuel pump still ticking as she in her panic left the ignition on.I turned it off but it was too late.
She did manage to get the kids out in the panic, bieng a 2 door you had to fold the seats forward.
I had 2 fire extinguishers on board and used both under the bonnet as I couldn't get the bonnet up as the heat had already stuffed the cable,by this time wiring was shorting out and horns were going off, I thought the fire was out but it started again and a crowd had gathered and people were yelling at me to leave as the car would blow up as it had a full tank of fuel.
Reluctantly I moved away and watched it burn for 45 minutes with my toolbox and cans of crc blowing out the windows. The fuel tank never went up and I used that fuel 1 month later in my lawnmower as I bought the wreck back from the insurance company.
Why did it catch on fire, the day before I had 2 new rebuilt stromberg carbies fitted by me and a mate..I believe that one of the floats stuck and fuel came out and filled the intake manifold on top and then the fuel ran down to the distributor and a spark ignited it. I actually had this happen 6 months before but I was there with bonnet up when it happened so I was able to extinguish this quickly.
This was one of the worst days in my life. I actually cried watching it burn and felt helpless.
So I am very fire aware now in any car I am in.
i bought the wreck back and rebuilt the motor and fitted into my 82 4 door I purchased later and that motor did 500000kms before I sold the Rangie....it's still going today and I still own a 89 vogue that I will never get rid of.
My story part of my life..will never forget that night.