got yer fire extinquisher?

[richfromPA]

hey all,
readin all these posts made me remember a scary moment when i was 18. i used to sell firewood and was using my dads JD 2010 with loader to roll around 4 ft dia. maple logs when all the sudden a fire broke out under the 17 gal. gas tank. the first thing i did was start runnin across the pasture when i realized if it blew up or burned to the ground, the ole man would kill me! so i ran back and drove my fingers into the soil in the pasture and threw clumps of mud under hood to smother the fire. after doing so i noticed the thing i always bang my leg on, THE DAMM FIRE EXTINQUISHER. oh crap did i feel dumb. i have never made that mistake to not keep in mind of where the extinquisher lives. what happened was the throttle linkage shorted across the top of the battery and was glowing red and started a small grease fire. ever since i make a BIG DEAL about having extinquishers. DO YOU ALL HAVE ONE ON YER TRACTOR?? ya know, the tractor doesnt have to be a giant ag machine to warrant needing one.
rich

ps dads tractor showed no signs of fire and i never told him

 

[RobertN]

Yes. See attached photo.

A good extinguisher is good to have. A friend was field mowing three years ago, and started a fire. He noticed a strange smell, looked back, and was able to use the loader to scoop some stuff on it. It only too a minute for it to happen.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RobertN]

PS...

It's never to early to think about this either. Yesterday, we had a 5 acre wildland fire. It was slow moving, but had potential to grow.

We still have wet conditions; two engines sunk to thier frames in the field trying to do a pump and roll operation.

Fortunately, our engine(posted above, on another fire) is a little more nimble /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[Boondox]

You were one lucky dude! Reminds me of a vehicle fire I saw at a highway rest stop. This guy's Corvette caught on fire. No fire extinguisher to be found. Just when the first tire popped he remembered the case of beer he'd just picked up. Shook those cans and popped the top at the flames. And it worked!

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[gordon]

Yes I've got a fire extinquisher in the cab of the Kubota. I do alot of work in the woods with a chainsaw and one never knows. Been lucky so far, knock on wood. Also have one in each of my trucks and the car as well. Cheap insurance no doubt.

I've used an extinquisher to put out two veichle fires. Thank goodness neither one was mine. One was a van on the jobsite, had no aircleaner and the carb backfired. A quick shot and it was out.

Another was at the end the road at the old house. Driving home saw a car on the side of the road that was smoking. Just then the driver popped the hood and flames came out. I pulled over reached behind the seat and got the extinquisher. I emptied the whole thing and barely got it out. While I was shooting under the hood he was at the rear of the car ripping out the amp and big boom box that he just had installed earlier that day. I ran back to my truck got a pair of dykes and cut the negitive cable going to the battery.---The father came by my house a couple of weeks later and thanked me. The car was totaled but the really nice thing was that he bought an extinquisher to replace the one I used. No it wasn't a haylon, but it was the thought that counted./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bet you guys will never guess what caused the fire in the car???

Gordon

 

[Bird]

Fellows, I agree that a fire extinguisher is great to have if you need it, but I've had several over the years (used to keep one in the kitchen and one in the garage), and since I've never had to use one of mine, they get old, probably wouldn't work if you needed them, etc. What do you guys do about that? Buy the rechargeable kind, have them checked on a regular schedule, throw them away and replace them, or what? And since there are so many different kinds, different suppressants for different kinds of fire, i.e., grease & oil vs. electrical, which kind is the best to have on hand?

Bird

 

[paccorti]

My father "burned" the concept into my mind early on. He's saved two strangers cars over the years by using his car fire extinguishers. In both cases nobody was hurt but he did save their cars. In my own case I installed some solid core ignition wires in my 73 Dodge Charger (400cid). Well radio couldn't receive anything and the very next day the new wires burn through the fuel line and start an engine fire. I almost walked away from the car thinking it had overheated. Hmmm, let me just pop the hood. WOOSH fire all over the place. Well I had a couple of extinguishers in the trunk and I just barely got that fire out. Now the wife and I carry extinguishers in the cars. Got a big multi purpose one in the garage and another in the kitchen. Can't be too carefull.

Bird, mine have gauges on them so I can tell the charge. They've got to be getting kinda low now. I'll just buy some new ones. I think extingusihers are rated A, B, C or something to handle different fires (electrical, etc.) I'm pretty sure mine are multi-purpose.

Peter

 

[richfromPA]

hey all,
another incident i remembered. about 4 yrs ago i was hurrying home and the traffic was backed up for 1/2 mile and i could see smoke ahead. when i got close enuff i saw an SUV with flames and smoke pouring out from the hood. soon after i had time to pull over and run up with my extinguisher and saw a guy with suit and tie fanning the flames with his coat and the owner dude just kinda in shock. i said " do ya gotta fire extinguisher"? ahh dahh, "no" so i sprayed her down. the fire had melted all kinds of rubber and plastic and was drippin all over the ground. i was in a hurry so i said to the guy, " here ill give ya my extinguisher cause im in a hurry" he asked me were i worked, which was 2-3 miles away, and said he would return it. well i never saw him since, which dont bother me cause i know he got the thing refilled and probably has it in his new SUV. the thing that got me, was that i did not see one person other than the suit guy try to help and the cars were stopped right next to them. that thing would have blown soon and there was no way a fire truck could have gotten there in time. moral to the story, keep that extinguisher handy. rich

 

[richfromPA]

hey gordon and bird,
gordon, what caused the fire? ill bet he was smoking that pot stuff, huh?
bird, i use class a,b,c, dry chemical. good for solids like trash, wood etc. liquids, grease and electrical. get the kind that are rechargable with a tag of the expiration date also with a guage that will tell if it is low on charge.
rich

 

[gordon]

Bird you asked so here goes. I just got done with some firetraining at work a few weeks ago so here is what I remember.

How much oxygen is in the air we breathe?---------21%
What percentage does it take for a human to survive------16%
What percentage does it take for a fire to survive--------13%

There are four classes of fires

Class A-----Paper, trash, wood, cloth

Class B-----Flammable liquids, gas, paint, solvents

Class C-----Electrical fires

Class D-----Metals magneizum {spelling?} potassium

Bored yet?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

There are five major types of extinguishers

1. water-- for class a fires
2. CO2 carbon dioxide class B and C fires effective range 3-8 feet from fire
3. Dry chemical class A-B-C fires effective range 12-20 feet
4. Haylon class B-C fires
5. Sodium Chloride Class D fires

Bored yet/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

You should take your extinguiser every six months and turn it upside down to make sure the chemial hasn't hardened in the bottom. Alot of people have powder extinguishers and check to gauge or button to check pressure but never turn the extinguisher upside down to make sure the chemical is still a powder.-----Very important------

One other key part of information look at how your extinguisher operates before you are in a panic sitution. Remeber this: The pass system

P-----pull the pin
A-----Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire
S-----squeeze the trigger or handle
S-----Sweep the base of the fire

Bored yet/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Guess the class payed off I did remember something out of three days of training. One day was on SCBA and the fun day was at the smoke house at the fire school.
After going through the smoke house it really made me respect firemen even more and what they go through not only doing seaches for people in burning houses but putting the fires out.

So far love the new job the only thing I don't like is that darn vest that I've got to wear. But I'm getting used to it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Gordon