2000 Ford Expedition Engine Fire Pictures

Presence of Mind - "Before the tow truck arrived, my buddies helped me remove the tow bar & ball, my Rockford Fosgate subwoofer amplifiers and the 800 watt ac/dc power inverter that were under the second row of seats."

- When guy heard of fire, wonder if he flashed on maybe the cabin was burning?

Questionable Presence of Mind - "My friend who had borrowed the car earlier in the day used to be a volunteer firefighter so he quickly grabbed the garden hose and doused the flames with as much water as possible."

- Trained Semi-Professional: 'Do not attempt!'

When I was 12 I learned an important lesson about adding water to a gasoline fire. Assuming there was gasoline on fire in this case...

He didn't say he was a PROFESSIONAL firefighter. ;)

It really helps if one doesn't top post. Makes it real hard to follow the thread.

The professional fire fighters use water on car fires. Ever notice all the hoses around during a car fire?

Jeff

yep they do unless its real bad then comes out the chemical fire retardant. Keep in mind they have big hoses

The fire was not a gasoline fire. The cruise control switch shorted out and ignited the master brake cylinder.

The rubber, plastic and aluminum under the hood was on fire.

Backyard Mechanic - That's an excellent sense of skepticism that you have there. Sorry to disappoint you but I didn't set my own vehicle on fire.

FWIW, The terms should be "paid firefighter" or "volunteer firefigher". Since the early '80s, I've known and trained with many firefighters, some of which are firefighters by profession, and they get paid to do what I and many thousands across America do as a volunteer. Some firefighters who are paid for their service do not do so as professionally as some of the volunteers I've spent time with, and just because I collect a paycheck to work in the telecom industry, doesn't mean that I am any less professional as a firefighter just because I do so as a volunteer.

While it is true that water has issues when put on a burning puddle of liquid, one should not discount the garden hose as a usable tool for saving property. THIS volunteer firefighter used a garden hose to save the neighbor's house from burning down when the rubber propane hose on his grille (sitting on his side porch) failed and caused the wood siding as well as the lattice trim to ignite. As to the chemical fire retardant, from the '80's till the most recent pumper purchase (2005), the department I ran with didn't have any means of using (let alone having) such a thing, other than calling in a not real close mutual aid company. For a vehicle fire, protocol would include a standard ABC fire extinguisher, albeit larger than a standard homeowner's version. However, when that runs out, firefighters (regardless of pay status) can't just stand around doing nothing.

Not what I meant... point was, I aint a trained firefighter but I would have grabbed the garden hose...

Summary: If you have underhood fire, garden hose is fine but use close as you can to mist or fog.. NOT solid stream. Use thumb as spray deflector/valve if necessary.

And I a>

Ah, sorry.

I remember that the "real" firefighters who arrived on the scene told my friend that he should have been careful of the front bumper springing off due to the heat. But they didn't mention anything about his methods with the garden hose. *shrug*

Not as long as they have an 1 1/2 hooked to a 3,000 gallon pumper, or a foam generator on site. LOL

mike hunt