Fire Extinguisher In Your Car?

I keep a 2.5 lb. halon under the seat and a 10lb. dry chemical extinguisher in the trunk. You'd be surprised how fast a 2.5lb. dry chem gets used up and how little it extinguishes.

So far, thankfully, I've only used them on other people's fires. I'm hoping they keep the fire Murphy at bay.

Are any of you flashers also fire bugs? What's in your vehicle?

Yup.
Halon is the best extinguisher around.
Keep a 7 lb one in the trunk.
I even put out a tire fire (about 8 stacked) once with a 5 lb halon...

I've just got 2 dry chemical ones stored in the back. Where do you guys get the halon ones from? Bet it wasn't Home Depot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

-Jason

Dry Chem is a mess. Halon is the answer, hut really expensive due to the same environment effect as Freon.

Got my and a speciality store for Fire Suppression systems.

I keep a 3 lb ABC dry chemical extinguisher clipped to the rollcage in my car within easy reach of the driver's seat. I also keep one of the same in the back of our other two cars. Never had to use one yet, but I like to be prepared just in case.

-Keith

I should, and have thought of it lots of times.

But it's hard to AFFORD a good one, and I don't see any use for a cheapy.

Just keep in mind, fire extinguishers in the trunk are not as handy there. When you need it, you need it NOW. You don't want to have to dig around in the trunk for it. I keep a medium sized one mounted to a block of wood on the transmission hump of my '56 Olds.

Oh yeah, PlayboyJoeSmoe, isn't a cheap one better than none at all? Ask yourself that if your car catches on fire.

The bigger, the better...

I've carried a fire extinguisher in all my cars for over the past 10 years. Only had to use one once but it did the trick when it was needed. Funny thing is most folks would rather spend a fortune on a new stereo system for the car then for a piece of potentially life saving equipment. If any of you have ever seen a car fire, and I've seen quite a few, they are really terrifying! If you value your life or your families lives you will carry one. Enough said!

Doug

I have been carrying an extinguisher in my vehicles for the last 30 years. Ever since I put out a carbuerator (sp) fire on a gals VW bug in the mid 70's, I have been a proponent. I brought in a line of halon to a chandlery I worked at 15 years ago and switched over to halon then. I have acouple in the kitchen, 4 inthe garage/shop and one in my van. With just a few experiences with fires, I learned quickly that the right tool can keep a set back from becoming a disaster.

I have an ABC in the trunk as well, a big one in the shop and a couple of small ones in the kitchen. Since I started carrying that in the car I haven't had cause to use it, so I guess they keep fires away as well as putting them out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It was almost 10 years ago when I had my first and only (knock wood) car fire. It was on an 85 Honda Accord. As I pulled into a restaurant parking lot I noticed that my headlights were strangely dim and just as I pulled into the parking spot the oil light came on. As I got out of the car I looked back at it thinking what might be the problem, I noticed just a tiny wisp of white smoke of steam come out from under the hood. For a moment I decided I must have left the cap off the oil fill hole in the header or something. So instead of walking right into the restaurant I decided to pop the hood. Good thing I did too as about 10 seconds after I opened the hood the main wiring harness burst into flames. (keep in mind the engine wasn't running anymore now and nothing electrical was turned on anymore) Bit of a funny scene when I ran into the restaurant and asked the guy at the counter if he had a fire extinguisher. He just smiled and answered "Yes" as if I was the inspector checking him out instead of a guy who's car was on fire in the parking lot.

I emptied 2 of their dry powder ones into it and it kept starting up again. The folks in the restaurant had called the fire department, but they weren't there yet. This was a roadside truck stop type place and wasn't very far from the fire station. Indeed there were at least 2 members of the fire department that came out to watch me fight the fire but offered nothing in the way of advice or help beyond an ongoing argument about who's territory this technically was and which department was actually going to respond. In retrospect thats kind of funny /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Then a fellow in a pickup who was leaving pulled up next to me, rolled down his window and suggested that I disconnect the battery. So I reached in and yanked the positive off the battery (luckily not too tight as only a few months earlier I had been bringing the battery into work every day to keep it warm in the 70 below weather we were having at the time) And the next puff from the extinguisher put it out.

Ever since then I've had at least a half way decent one in the trunk. You should too. Even if it's not your car, the one parked next to you might have a similar problem!

EDIT: almost forgot the moral of the story. Electrical fires dont go out until you remove the power. Be it in your car or in the house or wherever!

OK, you guys have me convinced. But if the Home Depot extinguishers are not that great, where does one go to get good fire extinguishers? (I'm also assuming that you don't need a special type for car use that is designed to withstand high ambient temperatures - i.e., I won't have to worry about the thing exploding when I park in the sun with the windows rolled up.)

John

Yes, the right tool is most important, especially with fire extinguishers. A halon or CO2 may be next to useless for a larger fire out in the open - like a tractor engine. They excel for inclosed fires like electrical equipment or spraying through the front grill of a car without opening the hood or under the dash etc.

Large, 10-20lb., dry chems are best for more spread out fires like leaking gas. Properly used a big dry chem can put out a flame shooting from a propane or natural gas line - it takes a bit of practice for that procedure, however.

The simple pressurized water, a bucket of water, or hose is most effective on wood, paper, rubbish, furniture, cloth, etc. I keep a gallon of water in the trunk along with the extinguisher.

I'm not sure if halon is available to the public anymore. If so, they and the better, larger extinguishers can be purchased through fire equipment dealers. Your local FD can direct you to those suppliers.

[ QUOTE ]
rocketmaninphx said:
Dry Chem is a mess. Halon is the answer, but really expensive due to the same environment effect as Freon.

Got my and a speciality store for Fire Suppression systems.

[/ QUOTE ]

And what is the environmental effect of a large fire?
You know, the one that you could have put out with that small halon fire extinguisher?

I've used them twice.
Once on a truck with gasoline all over the engine compartment. ( A crossthreaded gas filter fitting will spray gas everywhere.) The flames were rolling over the open hood. Went right out with halon.
A CO2 extinguisher didn't even touch this fire.

The second was the tire fire.
The fire tried to reignite multiple times, but went out as the halon finally cooled the rubber.

By the way, Ebay is a good way to get halon.

Halon is a chemical that can't be manufactured anymore, however the manufactures knew it was comming and produced tons. Its all in storage.
Its also has an exemption for aircraft.
Non of the alternative are even remotely effective.
So, when you have a fire on a plane, you want it out.
You do not want to wish it out.
The ones I have bought off Ebay have been out of service airline extinguihsers.

.

i see i am not the only one who uses halon.
i keep a 5 pounder in each car and several larger ones at home.
btw i used a 1 pounder to put out a neighbors car fire.
had them shut it off and pull the hood release.
i then shot it into the space under the hood edge.
this one had fire shooting out of the wheel wells when she pulled in.an idiot mechanic forgot a retaining clip on a fuel line.

2.5LB in front passenger foot area of dualcab F350, 10lb in cab, fireblanket, nomex wildland firefighting suit, standard firefighting suit, 100foot reel in truckbed rig, conversion/regulator pump mounted on truck and adapter for hydrant, 2x 5gallon foam mixture, 150 gallon water tank.

I'm ready when poop hits the fan, winch, hitch/tow equip, small crane, cherry picker bucket,my vechile has run-flats, aircompressor, bunch of other survival gear.

[ QUOTE ]
cryptoguru said:
2.5LB in front passenger foot area of dualcab F350, 10lb in cab, fireblanket, nomex wildland firefighting suit, standard firefighting suit, 100foot reel in truckbed rig, conversion/regulator pump mounted on truck and adapter for hydrant, 2x 5gallon foam mixture, 150 gallon water tank.

I'm ready when poop hits the fan, winch, hitch/tow equip, small crane, cherry picker bucket,my vechile has run-flats, aircompressor, bunch of other survival gear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you steal a fire truck from the fire house?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif That's alot of stuff... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

No...bought a used utility truck for $3000 at an auction, added a water tank to it, it already had a small crane and cherry picker.

The firefighting stuff is from my friend at Dupont as a christmas gift.