Do you carry a fire extinguisher?

[Jools]

Driving to our clubs big 'public' event this morning (around 7 am) we passed a disco with horsebox, stationary on the other side of the road with a cloud of something coming out the open drivers door.

My son & I had one of those conversations:

"was that steam or smoke?"
"dunno, but looked like smoke. D'ya think there's a horse in the trailer?"
"Dunno. Reckon we should go back?"
"yeah"

We turned round, parked behind the rig to see flames coming out the footwell. The extinguisher we carry (2 KG powder) put out the obvious fire, we popped the bonnet, blasted the extinguisher under the windcatch, opened the bonnet & disconnected the battery. Then went to extinguish smoke in the passenger footwell!

At this point I asked the driver (30 something female) has she called fire brigade? Is there a horse in the box? Luckily, no horse in box.

However, she hadn't called Fire & Rescue. I did - although it looked like all was out, I wanted the professionals to check!!!!!! I had to leave before F&R arrived, but they phoned back confirming the location so I assume all is well. Strangely, neither me or Robert felt under pressure or with an increased pulse rate.

Lessons learned?

1. Carry an extinguisher
2. Not dry powder - go for AFFF (ours ran out of propellant too quickly)
3. Read the instructions- before the incident.

Cheers
J

[stu]

nice one jools , where were you going .?

[Jools]

Through Newhouse, on the way to Walkerburn (past Peebles) for Wheels in the Woods

[fuzion]

In answer to the qustion, yes, i do carry a fire extinguisher..... im a smoker and some times the fag end comes back in when you flick it out the window

In all seriouseness, i think it should be compulsarry to carry one. You never know when an electical fault can cause a fire

[Drift]

I dont but I should.
Many moons ago when I was driving buses a car overtook me and hit another bus head on (she thought she was on a duel carrageway due to the service road next to the road proper.

Her car burst into flames, the other bus driver and I got our extinguishers and put the fire out, then managed to get her out, and her leg that was so bad we thought it was gone.
Thankfully her leg was saved after many months in hospital.

Moral, they save lives.

[marlbororman]

this threads spooky to me, coz was only thinking yesterday, when i get my fronty back on the road, im going to invest in a medium sized one to stick in the boot Had to put a fire out in the car park at the depot once..... Noone else was bothered and everyone just stood watching as the paint started to run off the bonnet

Worse bit was there was new cars parked either side


When asking if anyone new who the owner was,so we could get the bonnet open to completely extinguish fire, the owner was stood watching with hands in pockets, couldnt believe it

[stu]

i have one , gonna put it in today .

[jonny ramrod]

i got one.....it's sitting in my old sj at the moment.. so guess where it's going today...

[TonyG]

Yep, carry a Fire Extinguisher - oops! Expiry Date: 2003.

Also carry a towrope, jump leads, torch, and a spare pair of reading glasses.

Anyone carry a sawn off shotgun? No, Nooo, only joking!!



Tony.

[billy.mc]

After years of continental truck driving where by law you need a Fire ex, first aid, triangle, spare bulbs n a ton of other stuff i should no better??
but sadly i ain't put 1 in yet!!!! will asap

[country_Est]

Dont, but think I should but had a prob a few years ago.

Carried a fire extinuisher it the car at the time, but was not fixed to anything just rolling about either in a footwell or the boot.

When the time came to use it, it was as much use as a salt shaker as the powder didn't deploy and would only come out like shaking salt.

Luckily the missus was in a moterway service station at the time next to a very helpfull A man who had a working extinguisher.

So not only do you need to carry one, tha is in date but securily mounted as well.

Trev

[*Sam*]

I carry one in my other car, but not in the Fronty. I must rectify that!

Its also important as Country-Est says to have it securley fixed and it is also best to have it fixed so you can reach it from the drivers seat.

S

[convered_ford_user]

i have one of those small ones designed for cars in the boot, but having just recently seen one fired off, its not gunna put out a match let alone a small fire

[Jools]

Yup - mine was a 2kg dry powder, and still ran out before I wanted it to! It's fixed to the roll-hoop in the back of the sport - as has been said, it needs looked after.

Bolted to the floor in front of the passenger seat is a good spot, but obviously not if you need to slide it (SWB). As we no longer have rear seats, I may put the replacement there.

[rangaKoo]

Jools,

Thought you might like a poll, so I added it for you, figured it'd be nice to see just how many people take the no option, or considering it option.

I've had an extinguisher in my cars for years.

Just so everyone knows, it's either Aldi or Lidl, they do some great deals and extinguishers for about £5!!! They are the real deal, that's what I've got mounted in the Fronty now.

My advice (having had a commodore catch fire!) if you haven't got one now, get one and mount it in the cab!

[Jools]

Cool - thanks!

Only problem, the correct option for me is "no, cos I just used it but I plan to replace it this week"

[Ryan]

I carry a Safety Devices 1.75 litre (foam AFFF) extinguisher.

[Trugga]

I've carried an extibguisher in the boot for a few years now:


Note - the chocolate has since been eaten

Last year, I was fortunate to get some training in the use of extinguishers as well, in a controlled environment:


That's not me by the way

You do need to make sure it is securely mounted though, as mine broke loose a few weeks back (whilst laning) and whilst it only went off for a millisecond, the mess dry powder makes is horrendouse. Mine has since been resecurred.

Lawrence

[alex]

OOh,
No I dont, and yes I should. Being a good parent there is one in garage,kitchen and my bedroom. About time I put one in the cars.

[vaux_2]

Its something i've thought about before but one of those things i've just never quite got round to

Keep meaning to get a CO2 extinguisher for the passenger footwell. I would put it there so i can access it in a hurry if needed.
I'd thought about mounting it to the front underside of the passenger seat, out of the way of legs and wouldn't get in the way as the seat is moved forwards and backwards. That way it wouldn't get in the way and you could still have a reasonable size one. Not sure if it would work in practice though.

The small ones aren't much use, saw one of the guys from work set the out of date one he had in his capri off.....useless.