tr7triumph.com

In my story below, the car involved isn't a TR, but many around the world at this site do have older vehicles and may wish to take a lesson from it. One car owner had a hard lesson learned last night.

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I initially purchased the fire extinguisher in my car because a local car club's show scoring & rules encouraging participants to carry a fire extinguisher in the cars. I thought it was a good idea, bought a few more small extinguishers for each car in the garage and hoped I never had to use these devices.

On Saturday night, the wife and I were returning from a nice dinner in Algonac, MI when we came upon a car pulling into the lot with orange sparks and a small glow from its under carriage. There was a plume of smoke above the lighted intersection from which that car had turned off M29. I thought that was too much smoke and orange light for a dragging tail pipe. So while I turned around in the next parking lot, I asked my wife to take our fire extinguisher out of the glove box.

In about the 45 seconds to turn around and get back to where the other vehicle was, the other car owner had the hood open, there were 3 foot flames coming from under the carburettor, all along the lower windscreen edge, and through the hood vents.

I initially thought the Kidde extinguisher (3lbs or 1.5kg 'ABC' type) was going to be useless, but surprisingly, it put out all the fuel burning in the engine compartment. The small Kidde extinguisher, intended for kitchen and small garage fires, had enough pressurized contents for about 10 seconds of use. I was impressed, even though I aimed the extinguisher at the left front lower shock tower and cowl panel, little licks of flame on the under side hood insulation and at the radiator hose connection to the radiator were smothered by the fire extinguisher's contents.

Even if the Kidde had more to give, it couldn't help further because the fire (I think) had started to burn into the A/C and interior heating ducts in the dash board. The interior was continuing to fill with thick smoke even though no flame was visible. A young fellow from a nearby party store showed up with a larger extinguisher and kept the engine compartment fire that re-ignited about a 1minute later from growing again.

Sadly, even though I responded within 1 minute and the fellow with a larger extinguisher within another minute...the Metalic green, 1969(maybe) Pontiac GTO had suffered major damage.[:(][V]

When I left the scene, the a fire truck crew decided their very large fire extinguisher wasn't going to be effective and they were pulling out the heavy water hose to douse the interior, dash board and maybe the engine compartment again.

As a result of this experience, I just purchased a medium sized fire extinguisher for my car, a Kidde 340 (15 lbs of fire suppressant?) to replace the spent extinguisher. Due to its size, it'll have to be stowed in the rear boot or trunk. Just like the first extinguisher,
I hope I don't have to use it.

For any older, sports or classic car owner who reads this, they should seriously consider inspecting their vehicle's entire fuel line route for potential leaks or hose cracks annually, and carry not a small extinguisher, but a medium sized extinguisher or few small ones at the very least. One little fire extinguisher isn't enough.

A timely reminder to all-get a fire extinguisher!I have always carried
one in each car i own.Never had to use one yet,but you never know.
Also make sure that the pressure is good/refill dates are observed.
If you have an under bonnet/hood fire,pop the lid,but DO NOT open it.
You will only make the flames grow as the air feeds the fire.there
should be enough room through the gap around hood to squirt the extinguisher
over the engine/fire.NEVER presume fire is out,it may smoulder on for
hours.Call the fire brigade.Remember,your safety comes before the car
and your belongings.
The reason i say all this is because i went to load a 25 ton digger
a few years back,started it up and as i was pulling it over the side
of the low loader,i smelt burning.As i got it onto the bed,i could see flames from the rear engine cover.I immediately dropped it over
the other side of trailer and away from the truck,phoned the fire brigade
and pulled an extinguisher from my cab.I squirted it through the many
cooling vents to stop the fire,but no luck,fire kept re igniting.
The Red watch turned up quickly and put it out,but the 360 was badly
damaged.I got a 8o77ocking from the brigade for dragging it off my truck!
They told me not to be so stoopid next time-truck,trailer,digger are
all insured-as was i-but even the best policies wont get your life
back!

See ya',Paul.

My Triumphs have always had a fire extinguisher fitted as a requirement for the competition events they do but I've never had to use mine either. It never occured to me that I'd have to use it on someone else's car. Hmm, I wonder if I would waste it on just any car or would I have to ask myself, "is that car worth saving?"


Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.

I have only had one experience with car fires.

I was to drive the Scuderia Veloce F1 Brabham, at Bathurst, in 68, &
knowing I had a big Chrysler Royal V8, push botton auto, set up to
tow my Brabham, they asked me to tow one of their cars up there.

It's just as well it had plenty of torque, as I found myself towing
the LM250 Ferrari, in its fully enclosed trailer, with its spares.
All up it was approaching 3 ton.

The climb into the mountains, out of Richmond, on the Sydney plain
is/was long & steep, with regular hair pins. The old Chrysler had
never worked so hard. As I neared the top of the climb, smoke
started comming from the back of the bonnet/hood.

Not having an extinguisher in the car, as soon as I could I pulled
over, & tried to get at the one in the Ferrari. I couldn't get at
it, with the car in the trailer. Deciding I could drive to the
Midway Service Station, about 8 miles ahead, quicker than get the
Ferrari out of the trailer, I drove on in considerable doubt.

Once there, with the owner all set to fight the fire, with his
garden hose, I opened the bonnet. The relief was great. The
transmition had boiled, spraying oil out of rhe dip stick tube, onto
the underside of the bonnet, which then dripped onto the right bank
exhaust manifold. Not even enough oil to start a fire, luckily, it
just smoked.

Typical of those tough old Mopar things, once cooled, & refilled
with oil, the old girl resumed her duties without any complaint.

So, lots of excitement, & not even at Bathurst yet.

Hasbeen

Its not just having a fire extinguisher in ones older or specialty car,
but having a reasonable sized extinguisher.

I decided that I wanted to keep my '8 forever, so among the first things I got for it was fire extinguishers (yes, in plural).
And of course! A battery isolator!!!
The extinguishers are one 4 kg Halon extinguisher hanging on a bracket high up in the luggage compartment, on the
driver's side (= fairly easy to reach!) and one 1.5 kg Halon extinguisher on a bracket banded up to the driver's seat position
adjustment handle (= VERY easy to reach!). [:D] "Why Halon? Aren't they banned these days?" I hear you ask.
Well, yes technically they are [:I] - but they're also extremely effective in confined spaces, like in an engine bay. (That's why
submarines and fighter jets still use it...) And <u>in an emergency</u> you can even shoot it in through the radiator! And Halon
don't leave any powdery residue to be cleaned up...

My Fixed 7 had one fillted if i remember it was a red plastic bracket that was screwed to the rear bulkhead behind and inbetween the seats, just out of curiousity, was it only FHC that had extinhuisers fitted?


Steve
1979 Pre Production Prototype Inca Yellow DHC

wud it not be better to just run!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we haven't had much rain here until to today, so things
are very dry. One doesn't want a fire to spread.

Yes, life and personal safety first. But if a little effort
can save one man's dream car, it was worth a try.

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One person mentioned "Halon" being banned. That maybe something
relative to his local country. I mentioned this incident to a
fellow where I work, and he indicated his racing rules require
a 15lb Halon extinguisher to be carried in each car. Its to buy time
to escape a burning car. The reason why some localities may ban
Halon, is that it absorbs oxygen (good to prevent fires, bad for
people in enclosed areas).