Putting out car fires

[Norm <norm@xxxxxxxxx>]

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.