Fire Extinguisher (Glad it wasn't my rig) (1 Viewer)

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Joined
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North Bend, OR
Friday evening on a long trip up to NC from AL. As usualy seems to be the case I was the first on scene to an incident. I don't know if it is people are so crass in this world that they just don't care or they are all scared little girls and were raised with horrible values but none the less.

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I cut accross traffic on the side of I-85 N just South of Spartenburg SC and pulled up to the shoulder threw it in reverse and got out. At this point the Escalade barely had a few dribbles of fire comming out near the rear axle under the car hitting the asphault.

Lesson learned. Remember where you put your Fire Extinguisher. I used to keep it under my driver seat in my FJ62 but I had moved it to the jack storage compartment in my LX450. Not only did it take awhile to get to as you have to open the rear hatch and if equiped with seats you have to lower them when in the up position.

I got to the truck pulled the pin reached under to spray it directly and got a little fart and that was it. After inhaling a large pume of smoke while looking for people in the car I backed up. After about 3 minutes it looked like this and had a bunch of small explosions (not like the movies...nothing even happens...just a bunch of noise).

I never did find the passengers (looked on both sides almost getting sideswiped by a 18 wheeler that thought he was too cool to get over a lane or even slow down from 70 MPH. Police called up and I called it a night. I really hope I didn't over look something and everyone was alright. The lights came on at one point like someone was trying to signal but I think it was just the electronics melting as the drivers door was open and I didn't seen anyone.

Lesson learned. My Walmart Kiddie that I just bought 12 months ago is CRAP and it could have cost someone there life if I was really depending on it. I litterally had more pressure out of my farts. Obvioulsy a defect and not reliable.

So what should I do. I only found one thread about fire extinguishers. I just can't at this time justify a 400 dollar halon system but I think I might get it just in case. But in this instance the fire wasn't in the engine compartment so I need an easily accessible and BIG alternative. I know there is not a lot of room. There has to be some cool invention out there that would fit well and actually perform.
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Yeah, that's weird - nobody around. Almost sounds like it was stolen, abandoned and set on fire on purpose. Well, you tried to help and learned a valuable lesson with your equipment. Just get a good extinguisher and mount it where you can grab it in a hurry. A good place for me:
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No need to spend $400, I got one of the HalGuard 2.5lb extinguishers from 4Wheel Parts when they shot me a 15% off web coupon, $125 normal, ~110 with the discount, and picked it up at the local store. The Dry Chemical ones are about $55

Right Between the seats:hillbilly:

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Yeah, that's weird - nobody around. Almost sounds like it was stolen, abandoned and set on fire on purpose.

x2


glad you got to realize the extinguisher was crap when no one's life was at stake (life of a LC included in that statement)!:cheers: to good people who care about the safety of others whom we dont even know.
 
Dang Jason. Good on ya for trying to do a good thing. I have stopped for all the ones i come across around Nam and get some strange looks.
 
If you bought it 12 months ago, what is the expiration date on the side of the extinguisher? Take the piece of crap back to Wally world and get your money back. I know we have our fire extinguishers at work tested every year but they are good for longer than that.

my 2 cents
 
ABC's are good but then you have a mess to cleanup afterwards... C02's are REALLY nice but pricey, no cleanup but not as effective as ABC's depending on what's burning. Best bet would be goto a local fire extinguisher place and ask lots of questions, they can set you up with one that fits your needs and then service it later on. (check the gauge and shake it monthly, 6year maintenance, 12yr Hydro)

#10 extinguisher would be nice but I would imagine that a #5 would be good enough and be more portable.
 
I keep seeing you members from NC post in various threads and its making me want to drive my LC back to my home state!

tech: I need to get a fire extinguisher!:beer:
 
Yes, please do your research before buying an extinguisher. If you ever end up having to use one of the ABC chemical extinguishers on the inside of a vehicle or in an engine bay, they may put out the fire, but the extinguishing agent may end up causing more damage than the fire. They make a huge mess and are darn near impossible to clean up, and supposedly they can wreak havoc on electronics on down the line. Now if it a life or death situation, of course, use whatever you can, but suppose its just a small interior fire from someones cigar or something and you shoot it with an abc ext.....you are gonna have one huge mess on your hands. After a lot of research, I ponied up the coin and bought a 5lb halotron ext. Halotron is the new version of the old Halon. It's safe for the environment, and after you spray it, it just evaporates away, leaving no messy cleanup (well except for whatever was on fire obviously). In all honesty, I really wanted to get a 10lb, just incase, but that was all the money I had at the time. Maybe down the road I'll go for another 5 pounder so i can have one in the front and one in the back.
 
I keep seeing you members from NC post in various threads and its making me want to drive my LC back to my home state!

tech: I need to get a fire extinguisher!:beer:

I hear you. I see the Oregon Plate up there and minus all of the hippies and granolas I miss the actual geographics and climate. I'm in AL now.

Darin I get the same looks when ever I help people in need that obvisously need it.. This year I've been the first to a bad motorycle accident where I watched her flip over her handle bars on a curb and slide into a wooded area, a school bus run into the ditch on 87 then take out a car, a mentally unstable Airmen thinking of killing himself on the side of the road (hwy 87), and a guy get hit by a truck on his bicycle (no s*** was with a girl that was an EMT and found out afterwards...she did nothing..I had to run the whole show). Ohh and how can I forget the old lady who after pulling half way out into Hwy 87 forgot where she was going and then wouldn't move. It took me about 5 minutes to talk her into moving her car out of the intersection to the side of the road. In that 5 minutes not one single person came to help and I almost was run over multiple times by cars doing 50 MPH when there was obviously an issue. On one side of things it makes me really really angry but on the other side just very disappointed in our citizens in this country and their general attitue towards strangers. I'm an equal opportunity hater :D but people just need help sometimes. That is just one year :popcorn:. Maybe nobody will want to hang out with me now :meh:.

As far as your reccomendation you state your local fire extinguisher place....Not sure if there is one of those here in the podunk I'm residing in for the next 18 months. Do you think a Fire Station would be a good start.

How did you get there extinguisher on your rear seat belt like that?
 
Just replaced one of mine after I lost my wheel and hub last month. These seemed to work good on the grease fire I had on what was left of my spindle and rotor... Picked up at Lowes.

I keep one on each side and under the rear seat both drivers and passenger side. I was even thinking of marking on the back doors "fire extinguisher inside" as you see on big rigs and other equipment.

-Ammo
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Mine is pretty handy from the driver's seat. Like a lot of such extinguishers made for mobile purposes, it lacks a decent bracket that might keep it from killing you in the crash before you need to put our a fire. Thus the location also depends on it being where G forces don't have much of a chance to accelerate it towards my body. Going forward, it's blocked by steel brackets on the side of the Tuffy. Not the best and kind of small, but I plan on a bigger addition when the rear end boxes/drawers get built.

Any bigger than this, make double sure that the bracket is a good one. This is a best case stand-in for now.
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I hate it when people don't slow down or move over a lane when either there's an emergency or a cop has someone pulled over on a narrow lane road. Some must think it's cool to blast by at 75mph just a few feet from a stationary pedestrian/vehicle/obstacle.

Anyway, I've *heard* of a guy that made a reflective sign that said "Spike strips ahead" and would put it about 1/8 mile before the scene of where he was helping someone or a cop had someone pulled over. The end result was cars creeping by at 20 mph when they saw the flashing cop lights or hazard lights.

On holiday weekends with the potential for heavy DUI's, this same guy will sometimes work with a friend, find police engaged in traffic stops, and set up signs about a half mile before them so people will slow down and hopefully sharpen their skills so they don't barrel into a policeman. Supposedly some states find this illegal but I've been thanked...err this guy has been thanked...many times for his small part in helping improve officer safety.

There's so many idiot drivers out there, you've got to find out a way to even up the odds when you're one of the non-idiot sheeple that stops to help someone out. Don't become a victim because you're helping a victim!

For the tech part of this post: Unless you have a higher end fire extinguisher, don't buy one that doesn't have a gauge. In testing, (I'll find the link if anyone is truly interested), the el cheapo extinguishers with a gauge performed as advertised (in terms of volume and life span) while those without a gauge had a higher failure rate.
 
GreenTruck...That is the exact fire extinguisher I had. No real way to check them and obviously didn't work. Looks like online Kiddie had a recall on it in 08-09...and they probabably should do another for 09-10 as mine didn't work worth a darn. I would hate for you to need that and you end up trying to pee on the fire to put it out becuase that would have done a better job than mine.

Hybrid. I like your idea on the spike strips. I actually saw someone get closer to a traffic cop this weekend then pulling over a lane and distancing themselves. He was like a moth to the lights. From a half mile out he slowly cripped over the white line and then right after passing pulled sharply back left. Had me worried for a second.
 

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