Saw an accident today.

Huge ass truck and a less huge SUV tangled...head on. Watched helplessly as a small engine fire slowly grew larger. Spouses car has a fire extinguisher, mine doesn't. I don't know why that is. It seemed pretty important to put one in spouses car, why I don't have one in mine escapes explanation...I am mystified about that.

I truly hope that the woman everyone was trying to free from the SUV was dead long before the fire consumed her and her car. Who knows, had I had one perhaps I wouldn't be relying upon wishes and good intentions to get this awful image out of my mind.

The truck should have had one.

Huge ass truck as in 18 wheeler huge? If so Mason is correct, federal law requires a fire putter outer in the vehicle.

ETA, both my pickup and my wife's car have them. They're compact and inexpensive enough.

shit

Good reminder. Shit indeed.

Just reading about it is disturbing.

About 5 years ago the wife hands me one and orders me to put it in the trunk with the first aid kit. Been there ever since.

Antiquus wrote:About 5 years ago the wife hands me one and orders me to put it in the trunk with the first aid kit. Been there ever since.

Check the gauge every now and then to make sure it still has pressure, and give it a few whacks on the butt with one of these

to make sure the fire suppressant powder inside stays nice and loose and fluffy.

The gage gets checked when I remember. Whacks are a good idea, will do.

Just remember that any fire extinguisher you're carrying is going to be of limited use against a car fire. Use it to put out a small fire before it "catches" or to suppress a larger fire long enough to get someone out.

A firefighter once told me that, if no one is inside, they usually try to keep car fires to a "controlled burn" because once they really start going, you can't really stop them. Certainly not with anything you can carry in the trunk.

If my truck ever caught fire, I'd use the fire extinguisher to hit whoever tried to put out the fire in the head with it.

Too cheap not to own.

...but too expensive to use on ungrateful strangers...

If my truck ever caught fire, I'd use the fire extinguisher to hit whoever tried to put out the fire in the head with it.

A portable fire extinguisher is good to have on hand if you do a battery-jump.

Inquisitor wrote:Too cheap not to own.

indeed...the cost of one is insignificant especially when compared to the woulda - coulda - shoulda that will circle round my brain for ... like ever.

it was a dump truck by-the-way; city water bureau...

whitey wrote:If my truck ever caught fire, I'd use the fire extinguisher to hit whoever tried to put out the fire in the head with it.

Every male comes equipped with his own fire extinguisher. Not every male knows how to use it.

whitey wrote:If my truck ever caught fire, I'd use the fire extinguisher to hit whoever tried to put out the fire in the head with it.

I would too...hate my truck...owe too much on the damn thing to get rid of it...that's what I get for believing GM was going to take care of Saab. Nope, just got a real Saab-story now.

I keep one in the trunk of the Mustang - we are required to show it upon registering for certain car shows. Probably should be keeping one in the Saab. Lord knows it's had enough electrical issues to warrant it...


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Good point about the Mustang...engine fires were a bigger problem before fuel injection.

As someone who has had a car fire in the last year, I will swear that a kitchen ABC extinguisher is 'good enough'.

The Imapala's intake manifold suffered a blowout and it took a second or two for us to turn the engine off. Fire extinguisher was able to do what it had to do. I'm pretty sure there is still some retardant in the cyls, engine has ran like crap ever since.

We now have one in the trunk and replaced the one in the kitchen. We will never go anywhere without one.

necro-spam reported.

I had a fire in then engine of my 1990 Isuzu pickup on a bitter winter day in, I think, January 1995 (been a long time). It was zero degrees, snowing and windy. My engine caught fire in front of a flower shop. I had a small fire extinguisher and got it out quickly so the main damage was the distributor cap (remember those?) and the plug wires. Somehow, the windshield washer fluid had leaked and the alcohol in it ignited. It was only a few hundred dollars' damage because I put the fire out. The flower lady kept her store open until the tow truck came. We bought a lot of flowers from her over the years! (not just as a thank you but she also kept a great store).

The Isuzu was pretty but it was, under the body work, a POS. However, they stood by their warranty. (the fire wasn't a warranty-covered item).

Germany evidently requires a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit in all cars. Dunno about motorcycles, although supposedly when BMW delivered the first motorcycles to the California Highway Patrol there were small fire extinguishers on the bikes and the CHP ordered them removed.

Then again, there is this. Dedicated fire fighting motorcycle --