Fire Extinquisher?

[KeithTurk]

This is HEMI's Poll..

[JoeyG]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

Posted, always have one handy. Recouping from burns isn't fun.

[KeithTurk]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

For those of you who don't know it....

The Hot Rod Magazine Special was Burned in a fire and was rebuilt to become that car...it was a NASTY thing... and a scary thing... the fire wasn't huge... but it was persistent as hell... and just wouldn't go away... freaking thing re-ignited a bunch....

I finally got the fiberglass hood off the car and out of the shop... and let it burn...

Two fire extinguishers and a garden hose...

K

[Lobucrod]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

My fire extinguisher ususlly gets emptied putting our somebody elses fire. I'll probably get stuck with an empty one when something of mine catches on fire. I try like hell to prevent fires.

[DanStokes]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

One in the shop, but I should get a BIG one. Eventually, the Camaro will need a Firefox system.

Dan

[squirrel]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

Some but not enough.

[miketblsr]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

One in the kitchen and one in the garage at all times.

[shaun callaway]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

never needed on but i guess i should get one never really gave it m uch thought. i always try to take mellows to the trck just in case i know its messed up but it happens. when something catches on fire i usually stand the and watch while someone else tries to put it out.

[squirrel]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

I wonder how long they last, the 3 I have in the garage are getting old, same with the one in the kitchen and the old (too small) halon one in the 55 is starting to read low on the gage.

I heard that the dry type might get clumpy and not work after several years?

[DanStokes]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

Jim -
At the EPA, they had a company come in once a year to check them all (there were HUNDREDS). I know they weighed them, and also performed other inspections, but I don't know the details. Might be worth finding your local fire safety shop and take them in for a check.

Hope you never need 'em
Dan

[Narider]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

I have 9 in the shop, 2 at the house, and at least 3 between the truck & trailer when at the track(2 or 3 always in the trailer and 1 in the truck).

In the last 7 years I've only had to put out 3 fires(I say only, but that's still 3 too many). One fire was a bike at the shop and was a battery short fire(just needed to keep it cold long enough to cut the cable), which a foam extinguisher did a beautiful job of.
One fire was a car in front of us on the road coming back from the track that was burning under the hood in the middle of the road(I had to get the extinguisher out of the trailer and run up to the front of the traffic jam past the cop looking at it that never did get his extinguisher out of his trunk), cop was smarter then me actually and knew our little extinguishers had no chance of doing any good, but I couldn't bring myself to just stand there.
The last fire I put out was a bike at the track at the last meet right after it's run(Snart racing's Ironhead had an over flow from the carb onto the exhaust that caught on fire), and the foam put it out very easily as well(btw, when someone's hoolering "fire" while looking at your bike, get off of it - lol).

I like our foam units by Kidde the best(the clean up is almost nill and the extinguisher lives on after using just a portion of it as oppossed to dry-chem that's shot once you open the valve), but the foam ones are pretty expensive and I imagine not as good as dry-chem in extiniguishing a large fire, and of course not as good for a full on electrical fire due to their semi liquid state. We used to get the foam ones at Walmart, Home Depot or Lowes but they seem harder and harder to find lately(maybe they aren't the best, but for small fires they have done me very well in the past and I plan on finding more of them, the aftermath rinse-off is awesome).

I pay to have our extinguishers checked every year by an extinguisher company, then have them inspected by the fire marshall here(as well as 30 other things as required by law in our county for a commercial repair building that houses gasoline). But when it comes time to hydro-static test them I will only do the large ones as the really small are cheaper to just replace.
Todd

[Leon]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

I have a fairly large dry chem unit in the shop, 20 years old, and had it checked recently. It cost a few dollars to recharge but the place that did it said the powder hadn't clumped and was fresh as new. He recharges with nitrogen and as long as it is dry it should be OK. I usually shake them once in a while but he said it isn't necessary.

[pro65]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

How funny this post is here today. I went up the street to a friends shop to return a socket that I had borrowed yesterday. When I was there yesterday he showed me his freshly painted 67 camaro that he had brought back from the paint shop the day before. He was reinstalling all of the interior and gauges and such. Well today he reinstalled the 12 bolt and decided to cut off all of the old exhaust hangers under the car. So while he is on his creeper under the car doing his thing with the red wrench his wife just happened to walk in the shop to show him something and you guessed it all the interior was on fire, she was screaming telling him the car was on fire and then ran out grabbed the hose and put the fire out for him. He had 1 fire extinguisher in his shop but it was not any good when he needed it the most. Fortunately it did not hurt the paint but did take out most of the interior. Tomorrow I will be taking my 8 extinguishers to have them checked.

[HotRodLadyCrusr]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

This was just posted by a guy on the HAMB in Oklahoma


Okay, I have to set the stage for the worst experience of my life. Here goes. I just finished building a new shop accross the street from My house 40X60 with a lean-to. No power yet so I am thinkin I will start organizing and moving stuff from the garage to the new shop. I had been moving some small junk over the last couple of days and even had the wife pull me across the street in the International P/U project and that went well. Fellow HAMBer Chadillac is comin over tomorrow to help with the bigger bulky stuff and get everything out of the way so we can get my 62 Buick that has been on a trailer in the backyard over a year moved to its new home.

Well this is where the stupid part starts! I decide that I will move some stuff out of the way and get the Buick over to the shop today, that way when Chadillac gets here the trailer will be empty and we can get right to movin shelves and toolboxes over using the trailer. Well I weed the trailer through all the crap I pilled up out of the way and get it across the street. I have loaded this car on and off the trailer and driven it around the yard several times and loaded and unloaded cars from trailers by my self for almost 40 years without a hitch! Yea right.

Okay the Buick interior is gutted and has boxes of new parts piled in it I have been gathering for the upcoming build. The seat is a milk crate. I haven't started it for about a year so connect the battery and start crankin and pumpin. Well I can tell it aint gettin any fuel so I go and get the can. I pour a little in the carb (No ari cleaner) and even pour a half gallon in the tank for good measure. Get back in and sit on the milk crate and turn the key it fires right off and I feather the gas a while till it idles on its own.

Here is where the really stupid part starts. Okay the windows are all up, cause it has been out in the yard for the last year. I don't roll them down get in the car and proceed to back of the trailer. Of coarse the brakes are just barely workin so I take it real easy. As I start backing up I realize the door may hit the trailer fender and close it just in time. I back off the trailer and coast to a stop about half way into the shop. I then give it a little more gas to get it all the way into the shop and it backfires through the carb, stalls and starts to burn FAST!

I look around and realize there are NO window cranks or door handles on the inside of the car! Now I start to panic because the reason I closed the door was because I had lowered the car, but I hadn't fixed all the big holes in the drivers floor yet and smoke was pouring in to the car. Now panic is really starting to elevate. I open the little vent wings to let the smoke out and they are too small to reach through to reach the outside door handle. I try to slam my elbow through the side glass, (boy those things are thick) Its not happening!.

I start yelling for help out the vent windows, but there is no one around. At this point I picture me burning to death in this frickin car and my wife and kid finding my chard remains later that day when they wonder why I haven't been back to the house. By this time I am really freakin out and franticly trying to figure out what to do. I start feeling around the doors trying to find the arm to pull inside the door to release it, drivers side first, No luck.

The smoke and flames are making it hard to think. I try the passenger side and pull on what felt like the right lever but nothing happens. I am just about to give up and in a final attempt for freedom I Kick the door and it flies open and I jump out!

About that time My wife comes out of the house after hearing some faint cry for help, only to see me opening the hood and trying to put out the fires which were all over the motor and on the ground by now. I yell to bring a fire extinguisher and we both realize WE DON"T HAVE ONE! So I tell her to bring a blanket and I keep trying to put it out before it explodes and burns down my new shop as well.

It took a while but I got the fire out and my wife says why didn't you call me on your cell! Boy do I feel Stupid and Lucky all at the same time. That was the worst experience of my life, Really makes you think. HOW FRICKIN STUPID I FEEL!

[Narider]

Re: Fire Extinquisher?

HRLC, to you and Hot in Oklahoma, and pro65 and everyone - especially HEMI for the the topic.... thank you for sharing!

No matter how many we have, we sure don't have enough organization or thought put into them as I just found out from Deb we have 3 at the house(not 2 like I thought) and I wasn't even sure where 2 of them are). I can tell you where even the oddest and most unused of all my tools are within a couple inches in my 2500 square foot shop, but I didn't know where 2 of our extinguishers were in our home?.... NOT GOOD.

Anyways, thanks for the reminder to one and all... that was some scary reading from the HAMB fellow!
Todd