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The importance of fire extinguishers

scorpio_vette

NAXJA Forum User
So I've never carried fire extinguishers in my vehicles until i started offroading a few years back. Well yesterday my wife and me were driving on the highway when i start noticing smoke in the rear view mirror. I ask my wife if that's really me smoking, and she looks back and says yes.

so i pull over as fast as i could, jump out and stick my head under the jeep figuring something happened to my tranny line again since they just blew on me last week. But just as i stick my head under the jeep i see fire all over the exhaust manifold. So i whip around, grab the extinquisher from next to the seat, pull the pin and start spraying before I even hit the ground again. I sprayed until the extinguisher was empty, because i didn't want to take the chance of the fire kicking back up since there is alot of electrical down there.

so after i limped it home carefully, this is what i found. somehow i accidently overfilled the tranny. which caused it to start blowing out of the tranny vent line which i have relocated up along the fire wall. so all the tranny fluid poured straight onto the exhaust. I also realized the fire was worse than i though, as it had already started to melt the insulation off of all the wiring that was anywhere near that area. including the CPS. another 10 seconds longer and it would have been alot worse. The first thing i did on the way home was to stop at walmart and picked up 2 more extinguishers to put back in the jeep. another thing i learned was location is important. if they would have been in the back or even middle of the jeep, i wouldn't have made it in time. so now i'm planning on keeping 4 of them in the jeep. 1 at each corner.
 
I always have been one to stick fire extinguishers all over, Was in the County Fire reserve, wild fire fighter.
Upstairs a fire started on chair stacked with clothes, in a cross draft. In one window, straight through a door and out the other window. The fire was right next to the door.
Kids screamed, I run upstairs, just in time to see the shock absorber on the chair explode and throw burning oil all over the room. I grabbed a handful of blankets off of a bed and threw it on top, grabbed another bunch and did the same. Just then my son shows up with a twenty pound C02 extinguisher I kept in the garage. At the time the extinguisher was just about as big as he was (God I was proud of him that day). He was there when he needed to be, had his brain in gear and probably saved the whole house. That fire got so hot the plaster blew of the walls and the window glass blew out in one room. Sounded like a blow torch.
Smoke detectors upstairs and down, fire extinguishers upstairs and down. All the cars have one or two, the Garage has two.
I even keep a few climbing harnesses and ropes upstairs. Why not? The wife is handicapped (she only has one leg), got to plan for worst and hope for the best.
 
And just to add to this thread. Those little dinky fire extinguishers are crap. I had one for a while. It gives you about a two second spurt before it's done. You really need at least 2 2.5lb extinguishers. At $20~ it's cheap insurance.
 
KarlVP said:
...It gives you about a two second spurt before it's done.

That's what happens with age...


Wait, what are we talking about?


.
 
I've put out an engine fire (some other guy on the freeway) with a small extinguisher. You just have to be real careful with how you aim it so as not to loose a single grain of sand ;)

Scorpio - Sounds like you made the mistake a lot of us have. The Add mark on the AW4 means add one PINT, not a QUART (one pint = 1/2 quart).
 
I won that march membership drive and that fire extinguisher that came with it is really nice! I have a 2000 so the space next to the front seat isnt as much as older models so where is a good spot to put this bad boy? Its a 2.5 pound one and it came with the mounting hardware and stuff. Thanks NAXJA!! ;-)
 
GSequoia said:
I've put out an engine fire (some other guy on the freeway) with a small extinguisher. You just have to be real careful with how you aim it so as not to loose a single grain of sand ;)

Scorpio - Sounds like you made the mistake a lot of us have. The Add mark on the AW4 means add one PINT, not a QUART (one pint = 1/2 quart).

either that, or i forgot i already topped it off and after working on a bunch of other stuff went a re-topped it off. either way, from now on i'll make double and tripple sure to check the level after working on my tranny.


Mtb Jak: one thing i learned is that EASILY accesible was the most important thing. i'm actually glad i didn't have it mounted with the bracket that came with it. the one or two seconds it would have taken to pull it out of that might have been enough to burn through my CPS wire. whatever you do, make sure you can grab it while you're jumping out of the jeep without wasting any time. experiement with some different spots until you find one that works.
 
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