Vehicle fire scenario

[Sniper-T]

Had some fun on the way home from my fishing trip yesterday. While doing 110kph on a lonely 2 lane blacktop 40 km from the nearest town, I glance in my side mirror (drivers side), and I notice that there are 6 foot flames coming out of the box of my truck.

Note: It is on the same side as the gas tank.

Stop!!!
WHAT DO YOU DO???
Stop!

Carry on...

What I did, is carried on driving for about another 200 yards, until there was a drainage ditch running full, beside the road. I came to rather an abrupt halt there, jumped out and had a quick look under the truck - No Fire. Just in the box. Particularly, between the wheel well and the cooler, right behind the old bbq.

I Slid my seat forward, reached to the farthest, backest cornerest place behind my seat, and grabbed the fire extinguisher that lives there, ripped the box off, pulled the tab, and scrambled down low having a good look under the truck.
Got to the back, checked across and the fire was contained in one side, so I blasted about 1/3.

Flared up again, dumped another 1/3 there. By this point one guy that was coming towards me, stopped and offered assistance, and then another stopped behind me. There was still some fire noise, so I dragged the burnt cooler out of the truck, kicked it open, and to my surprise, everything packed inside was perfect.

Then the second guy and I dumped a few coolers of water, and it sizzled out.

Re packed and tied everything down - a bunch of the ratchet straps burnt off, and carried on.

I hadn't had a smoke in over an hour, and that one was standing in the middle of the very same road, except gravel, and I crushed it out on the road.

The BBQ hadn't been used since Feb. Got boated across the lake and loaded on my truck on Friday, It sat there until Tuesday.

Go Figure!

My backup plan... If I couldn't get it out with the extinguisher, was to back it straight into the ditch as fast as I could, try to smother it with volume... Hopefully if I hit it fast enough it would jam into the bottom or other side long enough to pull out before it got swept away.


Oh, here's the kicker... I was supposed to be hauling a 4-1/2 gallons of used cooking oil, aaaaand 4 gas Jerry Cans - 3 empty, one about 1/4. Except that I forgot to throw them in the boat at the cabin.

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/0521131603a_zps2fa0adf9.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/0521131603a_zps2fa0adf9.jpg.html)

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[Sniper-T]

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[MegaCPC]

Holy crap Sniper, you couldn't have done any better there!

I always keep an extinguisher in my vehicles, luckily I haven't had to use them yet.

Slightly humorous irony in your sig line.:cool:

[izzyscout21]

Holy Crap dude! WHo'd you piss off?;)

[Willie51]

So Sniper, what actually caused the fire, if you didn't use the BBQ since Feb. ? I must have missed it.

[Stormfeather]

What did you have flammable in the back of the truck? Could a vehicle passing by possibly tossed a cigarette that landed in the bed of your truck?

[ak474u]

It was swamp gas set ablaze by lightning. Ok maybe not. Glad you didn't lose the vehicle or get hurt.

[Sniper-T]

That's the thing... I don't know what started it. It made no sense... but there it was.

[Twitchy]

geez Sniper... glad it wasn't worse, and the truck came out pretty well intact... Anything rubbing in the wheel well? maybe heat transfer from a rubbing tire lit up the plastic bed liner? This is kinda crazy since there is no indication of what started the fire...

[Evolver]

Holy crap Sniper, you couldn't have done any better there!

I always keep an extinguisher in my vehicles, luckily I haven't had to use them yet.

Slightly humorous irony in your sig line.:cool:

Dang man I need to replace my soaking wet keyboard from a drink accident after I read this... Sorry Sniper but Mega hit my funny bone with his witty remark. Dang PMUOTF (Pick Me Up Off The Floor).:o

Your prepared Man and I like the way you think. You had what you needed but you thought/thunk/thinking about the what ifs and shared the moment.

As for what was the ignition source for the fire? It might have been static electricity from movement inside the plastic bed liner and plastic cooler that ignited your open container (rum)that had split in the bed. :p

On a serious note... I'm glad that you made it home safe, contents of the cooler was saved and you shared this experience. :)

[Sniper-T]

Yeah, it was a total mind freak. what caught me the most, is how it took repeated blasts from the extinguisher to get it to stop flaring up. made me think of an accelerant. But there was nothing in the truck that would act as one. and from experience, I know that that liner plastic is tough to melt, never mind burn.

If, at first noticing it, I didn't see the ditch ahead, I was already considering flooring it, and trying to drown it with the wind. I'm not sure how that would've turned out, so I am happy I had water somewhat close by. Given that is was a plastic (ie OIL fire), water wouldn't have been the end all be all, but I would have submerged the truck if need be, as opposed to letting it blow in the middle of the bush.

The scary thing is, prior to my house fire a year ago, I only had a tiny little extinuisher in my truck, and I KNOW for a fact, that it wouldn't have put it out (if it worked at all).

I'm not sure what I did to Promethius (god of fire), but I am planning on overdosing on my fire suppression in the near future. If shit comes in threes, well, that is my second, potentially catestrophic fire, in just over one year!

My sig line... I almost roared out loud when the first post came up... Then an introspective thought or two popped into my head. Had it blown, while I was trying to fight it, I would like to think that I was together enough to make it into the water, but I've only really been on fire once before, and my thinking at that time was't necessarily the smartest.

[bacpacker]

Shit. Glad everything ended up OK. Certainly makes me rethink my mobile fire suppression, big time.

[ak474u]

I peed out a brake fire once. Lol. I threw a big gulp on it first, but it splashed off the wheel. Car fires are no fun.

[Twitchy]

Yeah, it was a total mind freak. what caught me the most, is how it took repeated blasts from the extinguisher to get it to stop flaring up. made me think of an accelerant. But there was nothing in the truck that would act as one. and from experience, I know that that liner plastic is tough to melt, never mind burn.

If, at first noticing it, I didn't see the ditch ahead, I was already considering flooring it, and trying to drown it with the wind. I'm not sure how that would've turned out, so I am happy I had water somewhat close by. Given that is was a plastic (ie OIL fire), water wouldn't have been the end all be all, but I would have submerged the truck if need be, as opposed to letting it blow in the middle of the bush.

The scary thing is, prior to my house fire a year ago, I only had a tiny little extinuisher in my truck, and I KNOW for a fact, that it wouldn't have put it out (if it worked at all).

I'm not sure what I did to Promethius (god of fire), but I am planning on overdosing on my fire suppression in the near future. If shit comes in threes, well, that is my second, potentially catestrophic fire, in just over one year!

My sig line... I almost roared out loud when the first post came up... Then an introspective thought or two popped into my head. Had it blown, while I was trying to fight it, I would like to think that I was together enough to make it into the water, but I've only really been on fire once before, and my thinking at that time was't necessarily the smartest.

The flaring is a natural reaction because of the additional air being introduced to flame from the extinguisher... its temporary and usually resolves within a few seconds of beginning to put it out... If the rule of threes is correct, If I were you I would be getting one of these for my house...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYAOHYKBYas

[Stormfeather]

I peed out a brake fire once. Lol. I threw a big gulp on it first, but it splashed off the wheel. Car fires are no fun.

No kidding. . .Car Fires suck, this was my front yard in 2010... Friends ford exploder caught on fire in my driveway, in turn catching HH-6's car on fire. Total loss on both. Good thing he didnt park by the garage, would have lost 9 Harleys!

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