That was great advice regarding use of towel. I am one thoise hyphenated anal-retentives that does indeeed carrya fire extinguisher and will add towel. What are your thoughts on soaking the towel in water n baking soda-does that impart any additional value even when it dries out? thank' jerry53 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Norm" <norm@xxxxxxxxx> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 1:26 PM Subject: IML: Putting out car fires > The advice about having an extinguisher in every car is fine but > practically speaking few of us can/will do it. However I've saved a half > dozen cars (none mine!) by the simple fact of having had a beach blanket > or large towel in the car. Most fires are either fuel or electrical > (duh!), electrical you're going to have to disconnect the battery or pull > the wires off ... come to think, I did save my Jag E from an electrical > that way when a new gauge shorted and burned the wiring all the way > inside the harness (think about stoppping and popping the hood on an E > quickly!). It's a good argument for another habit of mine - one battery > cable twisted just hand-tight. I do it for convenience because old cars > so often have battery drains. > > So for fuel fires they're typically carb backfires or when a fuel hose > has cracked or come loose; covering with any large cloth will cut off > the air for moderate-sized fires (you'd be surprised how much can be > extinguished quickly!). Where there's fuel spraying and igniting though > you've got a significant problem and recovery expense, fire extinguisher > or not. Fortunately this is preventable in large extent by making sure > fuel hoses are in good shape and well clamped, something we all do once a > season right? <g> Well, I try to anyway. HTH, Norm > > -- > If it's good enough for ancient Druids > Running nekkid through the wuids > Drinking strange fermented fluids > It's good enough for me. > >