After seeing that one of my fire extinguishers' guage was on empty, I recently picked up from Costco a two-pack containing First Alert "Multi-Purpose" Fire Extinguishers. I've put one in my car but upon reflection am not sure it is sufficient for automobile use. The box does not mention automobile use and instead emphasizes home use. Couldn't find a link on the Costco site so here are some of the particulars from the box they came in:

UL Rated 1-A:10-B:C
US Coast Guard-approved

I believe it's the same as this:

First Alert Home Fire Extinguishers are 1-A:10-B:C rated fire extinguisher ideal for use in any household location. Multi-purpose household fire extinguisher fights wood, paper, fabric, flammable liquid and electrical fires. Durable metal head designed to meet demanding household requirements. If the unit is used it can be recharged by a certified professional. Includes mounting bracket to keep unit secure. 10-year limited warranty. Meets UL standards.


Here's a link and summary of an auto-specific extinguisher. Still not clear to me if the Costco extinguishers are sufficient for automobiles:
http://www.firstalert.com/fire-extinguishing/fire-extinguisher/fire-extinguishers/FESA5

This auto fire extinguisher is compact - store in any car or vehicle. 5-B:C rated compact car fire extinguishers are ideal for use in vehicles. Fights flammable liquid and electrical fires. Small enough to fit in the trunk. Includes heavy duty mounting bracket to keep unit secure. 10-year limited warranty. Meets UL standards



I'm presently reviewing the site at this link below to determine exactly what I need in the car and at home. Been a long while since I researched fire extinguishers:

http://www.ilpi.com/safety/extinguishers.html


Class A fires are ordinary materials like burning paper, lumber, cardboard, plastics etc.

Class B fires involve flammable or combustible liquids such as gasoline, kerosene, and common organic solvents used in the laboratory.

Class C fires involve energized electrical equipment, such as appliances, switches, panel boxes, power tools, hot plates and stirrers. Water can be a dangerous extinguishing medium for class C fires because of the risk of electrical shock unless a specialized water mist extinguisher is used.

Class D fires involve combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, potassium and sodium as well as pyrophoric organometallic reagents such as alkyllithiums, Grignards and diethylzinc. These materials burn at high temperatures and will react violently with water, air, and/or other chemicals. Handle with care!!

Class K fires are kitchen fires. This class was added to the NFPA portable extinguishers Standard 10 in 1998. Kitchen extinguishers installed before June 30, 1998 are "grandfathered" into the standard.

Some fires may be a combination of these! Your fire extinguishers should have ABC ratings on them. These ratings are determined under ANSI/UL Standard 711 and look something like "3-A:40-B:C". Higher numbers mean more firefighting power. In this example, the extinguisher has a good firefighting capacity for Class A, B and C fires. NFPA has a brief description of UL 711 if you want to know more.


Are your all's fire extinguishers appropriate to your needs and sufficiently charged?

Do you have any home or car extinguishers to recommend?

They are good for a SMALL fire. Like many things, know your limits and those of your tools.

The 1-A rating is equal to the fire fighting ability of 1.25 gallons of water on a class A fire, if that helps you visualize things. About a small trashcan (6-gallon size) of paper on fire, or a MUCH SMALLER class B fire.

Practice is a good idea.

Your 1A10BC fire extinguisher sounds good for auto use to me - if you intend to knock down a small engine fire or suspress fire while removing occupants to safety. Here's another link to some good advice on purchasing fire extinguishers - http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products...extinguishers/.

Practice is essential. I make it a habit to buy new fire extinguishers approx. on the same schedule as new household smoke alarms (~5 years), and when I have a couple spares the wife, kids and I hold a short PASS party in the backyard. CERT also has regular training under FD supervision that got me started - before CERT I had never used a live fire extinguisher. Its darn simple, but you want to know how to aim the extinguisher, and what size fire you can expect to put out. Check with your nearby fire station and see if they can help you out - I think most fire stations have a supply of nearly exhausted fire extinguishers to teach with.

Whatever fire extinguisher you purchase for auto use, keep in mind its probably going to be a compromise between size and what type of fire it works best on - there may be better materials for engine fires, but they can be more expensive, and seldom if ever get used. A 1A10BC in your trunk on the other hand can help with alot of different fires, and is pretty cost effective, particularly a rechargeable one.

And remember to bolt it down using a factory attachment if its in the main compartment of your car - extinguishers make nasty projectiles in high speed accidents.

I recently priced a 30lb class D unit - Gasp, shudder - a bucket of sand is good enough for the low risk stuff I do - $800+ for copper based (salt based a LOT cheaper, but still HIGH)

Worth reading:
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/health/Health-Risks-Fire-Extinguishers.html

Great informative link. I think I'm going to go with the basic Kidde 1A:10BC but I have to figure out a strong way to mount it while keep it accessible. I'm thinking right in front of my driver's seat laid on the ground. The plus is that it is very accessible the negative is it will be exposed to salty boots and if it were to fail it would be right in front of me when it did.

My auto based units were around $200 each.

They are the units that won't destroy electronics. I got them mainly for my off-road vehicle, but when not in use plan to keep one in my other vehicle.

The FireFreeze "Cold Fire Extinguisher" is an interesting non-toxic product which claims superiority over standard ABC fire extinguishers:

http://www.firefreeze.com/

http://www.coldfireextinguisher.com/

There's been a lot of video and marketing hype related to the product since it appeared on the second season of Discovery Channel's "Pitchmen" tv show.

What kind of rating does the NFPA give FireFreeze products?

I looked at the Firefeeze site and rooted around a bit and was unable to find any reference to any NFPA rating. Which may or may not mean much. Could mean it simply hasn't been submitted for evaluation.

There was some mention of the compound used having some sort of certification for use as a firefighting agent when bulk mixed for a FD but didn't follow it through. It might just be EPA approved for forest use or some other certification that doesn't mean much in terms of a hand-held fire extinguisher.

The ad copy has a lot of language that implies testing, it is X times better than Y, but I was unable to find the specifics of how that comparison was made.

There are several similar products I've seen in the local stores and non of them had any NFPA rating I could find. They were all similar spray-can units. Without any testing it is hard to draw any conclusions other than they are compact and light and claim to be effective, that and they all sell for about $10 to $18.

I sometimes carry a trigger-spray bottle, like what you might see holding 409, when I use a torch near wood. I use a mix of plain water and a few drops of dish soap so it soaks into the wood instead of just rolling off. It it looks like I might catch the wood or insulation on fire, or drop sparks, I soak the area. Having a little water handy means I can put any fire out while it is little bigger than a candle flame. Catch it early enough and there's nothing to that whole firefighting game.

For about $13 I would expect those miniature extinguishers to be significantly better than my spray bottle.

I will tell you that dry-powder ABC fire extinguishers are not may favorites. They all spread their powder far and wide, use one in a house and you will find it on every horizontal surface in every room, doors closed or not, and the powder isn't easy to clean up after it sets for a time.

Worse, if the powder is mono-ammonium phosphate based it is corrosive to many metals as soon as moisture hits it.

That may be true, but imho an out of control fire has a far more corrosive effect than the dry powder compound. Better to face clean up on the powder than rebuild on the house...

Still, its good to not need the fire extinguisher in the first place in fire suppression, such as know how and when to smother flames (stove fire) rather than attack with an extinguisher. A friend of a friend was kind of embarrassed over the thanksgiving holiday when he fired his extinguisher at a stove fire and spread hot oil all over his kitchen from the blast, rather than covering and smothering the fire. Friend ^friend was once a volunteer with a local rural FD, and said he just didn't think before taking aim. At least he was up front about his goof, he sent out an email to his friends warning them not to make the same mistake - there are videos up on youtube and places like that describing the best way to deal with hot oil on a stovetop etc.

Yup, often the best way to deal with a stove fire is to simply put the lid on, if you can safely get close enough to do so.

Be careful taking the lid back off again - if the oil or grease is still above auto-ignition temperature it will spontaneously re-light as soon as oxygen reaches it.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I saw a video clip on the news about a kitchen fire. There was a turkey in the oven and there were a lot of flames. This woman was determined to pull that bird out of the oven even though there was a frightening amount of flames licking around her hands. Unbelievable. Reminded me of that scene from the old TV series Kung Fu where a young David Carridine has to carry that red hot iron pot full of burning coals with just his wrists.

Anyway, someone pulled her back and closed the oven door. You could hear the woman still screaming about saving the turkey. The flames used up the oxygen and died down all by themselves. No need for an extinguisher.

Like Lono was saying, the woman was probably just not thinking and was fixated on all the effort she put into that turkey, but still, she was risking great personal injury and even burning down the rest of her house by trying to pull that bird out. If anything, it's a good lesson on why we need to periodically remind ourselves of what to do in certain situations--basic first aid, basic fire fighting principles (including getting everyone OUT if you can't control a fire quickly), what to do in some natural disaster like a tornado, earthquake, etc.

Common rookie mistake to hold the fire extinguisher too close to the fire. Instructors tell you to take three steps back from where you think you should be. Fires can quite literally explode when first attacked with an extinguisher. Better to give it a 'ranging shot' from afar and advance to 'fire for effect'.

The corrosive nature of mono-ammonium phosphate is something to keep in mind when you buy extinguishers. It is less of an issue once there is an active fire. On the other hand an acquaintance once had a fine collection of firearms, some of them museum quality antiques. A minor fire, essentially a trashcan fire caused by a spark from grinding igniting wood scraps carelessly tossed into in a metal bin, caused him to use the extinguisher. He still has the guns but many of them, mostly those not in sealed cases or sleeves, have pitting that eliminated a lot of their value. In retrospect he admits it would have been easy to have simply carry the bin outside, or put it out with the dregs of yesterdays coffee. Evidently is was that small a fire.

Dry-powder ABC fire extinguishers are the number one units sold. The biggest selling points are that they are idiot-proof, no need to know or understand different classes of fire, they are ABC rated, and they are cheap.

They are not the most effective of types for any class of fire. Pound-for-pound most foam units beat the powder on both class-A and B fires. Powder neither cools nor blankets a fire. A class-A fire put out with a powder extinguisher will stay hot, can smolder, and may reignite.

Plain water is often better.

Very old-school but in a lot of situations, buildings with a lot of class-A materials, or where small amounts of grease or oil are the fuel, I would put more trust in a bucket of soapy water or sand.

Driving down the highway one day, I encountered a vehicle with a flaming tire. At the time, I had a dry powder extinguisher in my vehicle, so I stopped to help. Fortunately there was also a highway survey crew nearby, and they also responded, so we had about four or five dry powder units available to extinguish the fire.

We would empty an extinguisher, putting out the flames. After about fifteen seconds, the tire would flare up again. After repeating this cycle a few times, we finally realized that the wheel was extremely hot (due to a dragging brake shoe) and was the source of reignition. A bit of water applied to the wheel finally calmed things down and got the fire out.

The vehicle owner at that point opened his trunk, whereupon we saw a three gallon can of gas, uncapped. We were lucky that day.......

Just thought I'd bump this topic back up. If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your car, go out and buy one tomorrow and keep it in there.

Today while driving I came upon a car that had just caught fire. It must have happened less than a minute before I arrived because the engine compartment was barely smoking and there weren't really any flames. I was 2 cars behind, I immediately stopped and grabbed my fire extinguisher from behind my seat, while at the same time another lady grabbed an extinguisher from her car and gave it to the vehicle owner. He was spraying the hood of the car but it wasn't having any effect so I told him to pop up the hood of the car. I guess he misunderstood me, he popped the hood the came around front and tried to open the hood and was greeted with a rush of flames and dropped the hood again. Since I didn't have any gloves I was still trying to shoot through the small gap above the radiator, then tried from underneath or through the vents, but with no luck. Either way, we emptied 2 of the small size (I believe 5lb?) fire extinguishers and did nothing more than delay the fire. I could tell the fire wasn't out, and was beginning to grow again as soon as the extinguishers ran out. At that point there was nothing we could do but watch and wait, a motorcycle cop had arrived but no sign of the fire department, so there was nothing I could do except move my car out of the way. I'm sure the car is a total loss because by the time I left flames were already growing again and parts of car were literally melting onto the ground.

What I learned today:

1) Carry a fire extinguisher. A big one. A bigger one. Maybe 2 really big ones. Those small extinguishers are better than nothing, but not much better. Even though I've had to use one before to put out a kitchen fire, I was still surprised at how quickly they run out. It's probably 10, maybe 15 seconds at most, but in the excitement it really feels like you only get 2-3 seconds of use. It might be enough to help someone escape out of a burning car, but won't do much to put out the fire. I used to have 2 extinguishers strapped to my roll bar, but at some point I must have taken one out, I wish I had kept it in there. Even with 3 small extinguishers I doubt it would have made much of a difference, and it's probably not going to do much other than delay the fire a bit, but it's still better than sitting around watching someone car just go up in flames and being able to do nothing.

2) I'm going to keep some leather gloves next to the extinguisher. If the car's on fire, you're probably not gonna want to touch it, but if the fires in the engine compartment, it's pretty well sealed and i don't know how you're supposed to extinguish it if you can't even get to it. I think if I could have opened the hood a couple of inches just enough to get the nozzle underneath it might have worked. At the very least gloves might let you get a little closer without burning your hands

3)Fires grow very, very quickly. When I first saw it the car was barely beginning to burn. In the 10-15 seconds it took me to stop, get out and grab the extinguisher and run 20 ft to the car, the fire had already grown to a point that I was pretty sure that there was no hope of saving the car. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anybody still inside.

4) I've been putting off buying a vehicle specific fire extinguisher because of the $200 price tag, but now it doesn't seem that expensive anymore. At the very least I'm going to upsize my current one to maybe a 20lb dry, because I'd rather deal with the mess of cleaning up the chemicals than watch my car burn to the ground.

ducktapeguy - I think you nailed it with the bigger is usually better thing on fire extinguishers. As long as it remains compact and light enough to have handy, limber quickly, and use efficiently.

Heavy leather gloves are a grand idea. I may slip a spare set of welding gauntlets in near the extinguisher.

I think you are right about extinguishers delaying a fire. If they don't put out a fire they might buy time to get people out and call for help.

In CERT Training, participants are taught to not go after anything larger than a trash can as a rule of thumb.

(Note: The "rule of thumb" is also used to determine if you're far enough from danger for most things: hold your arm at arms length, close one eye, and look at whatever danger there is with your open eye and put your thumb over it. If it's completely blocked by your thumb, you're probably far enough away. Yeah, doesn't work for everything...).

Ensure that your fire extinguisher is mounted, and if you cannot mount it, make sure its in a heavy bag (to protect the pin and handle ) and that the bag cannot fly around in an accident.

You may be able to purchase an OEM extinguisher mount for some cars, as some countries require rental cars (maybe all?) to be equipped with a fire extinguisher and first aid kits.

There's no worse feeling than having the extinguisher go empty when you still have fire to deal with. Buy the biggest one you can fit in the car. I recommend one with a flexible hose because if you are fighting an engine fire from beneath, some extinguishers won't operate upside down. You keep the extinguisher more or less upright and use the hose to snake around the chassis parts to spray up into the engine compartment. Hose is also good when you pop the hood open only a couple of inches, then insert hose as far as you can over the top of the radiator. For mounting mine inside my pickup I use two Davis Super Quick Fist strap/mounts. It's a boating product good for holding cylindrical objects like oxygen tanks and fire extinguishers. (Note: I have no affiliation to the company, it's just a great product!) One last thing to keep in mind is protecting the squeeze handle and pull ring from other objects and people moving around inside the car. Wouldn't want the extinguisher to go off inside the car while driving.

I've seen H3R Halguard extinguishers used with great success. I have one in my daily driver and two in my "fun" car. They aren't cheap but they aren't ridiculously expensive either.

Standard disclaimer - No affiliation just a satisfied customer.

Ducktapeguy, popping the hood to address the fire seems to have made the problem worse, right? Firefighters, please chime in on this point: opening the hood feeds the fire with oxygen (instead of keeping the oxygen somewhat deprived by a closed hood holding in smoke and choking out the oxygen) and can lead to a rapid - and potentially explosive - increase in the flames. Its the same concept as not opening doors in a house if there is a fire on the other side. I have seen a few home and apartment fire scenes, and the difference between a fire free flowing between rooms and one that was confined behind a doorway is night and day - the free flowing fire has burned down the surrounding doors to waist height, while the confined fire may produce smoke damage to the same height, but not nearly so much flame damage. In a house this can mean tens of thousands dollars less in damage to home and contents, not to mention a better survival rate for occupants (assuming they GET OUT and keep low).

So I'm a big believer in leaving the fire as is, not popping the hood, get people away from the fire, and waiting for emergency help to arrive. Know your limitations - a 5 lb extinguisher is very limited to address any kind of car fire, and while I will always use it to remove a trapped occupant, I won't rely on it to address an active fire. I may spray it on the fire, but I won't pop the bonnet, as that just feeds the flames. I look upon car fires as a dead loss anyway - that's why folks have insurance.

Eye protection and leather gloves are also required, for any emergency extraction. And something to break a windshield. Keep these in an accessible place in your car (side pocket etc).

Go for a side window if possible. The windshield is much harder to break. Make sure that you have a tool that can cut a seatbelt, too.