Fire Extinguishers. Have you ever needed one?

[Steve NW WI]

Once wood stove related. My dumb azz cleaned the chimney, with one of the old style pull the chain to expand the wires style brushes. I thought I was down to bottom, should have verified but didnt. I was hitting a blockage and cleaning up from there - blocking it completely! When I lit the stove, of course the basement started to fill with smoke. A little shot from the extinguisher got the kindling put out, and a bunch of swearing and a heavy weight on the end of a rope cleared the blockage. Let's just say measures are now in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.

I also had to put out my 86 Chev on the way home from work one night, trans cooler line broke and sprayed the manifold, making for a nice glow under the truck many years before the dorky lights kids nowadays use to get the same effect. The fire did enough damage to make the truck become a parts rig, but it wasn't far from it before the fire. Could have been a big problem though, as it happened on payday, so there were 2 full 20 gallon tanks of fuel that could have caught.

FE's are a good thing, I should probably have a few more around, and I'll be picking up a Chimfex or 3 this weekend just in case. I also like the water hose connected to the pressure tank idea. I've got lots of hose down in the shed, think I'll rig up some storage for one and get it set up for just in case.

Our family's farmhouse burned to the ground when I was 15 (shorted electric water heater), so fire bothers me probably more than the average person. When the nearest volunteer FD is 12 miles out, plus their response time to the station, it's basically gonna be gone before they arrive if you can't control it yourself.

 

[Iska3]

We keep three in the house, one in the garage and one in each of the cars. I've had to use several at work when welding on a garbage truck but never at home. Also used one once to break out the glass of a truck when a guy had a roll over.

We make it a point to check all the gages for a proper charge on our birthday.

 

[LazyJ]

I have half a dozen FEs scattered around but the main one is mounted right at eye level beside the door into the garage, everybody in the family knows exactly where it is, they see it everyday, I gave pop quizzes on where it was. I trained them on how to pull the pin, squeeze the handle.

Lo and behold we had toaster fire right after I had left for work and they called me from five miles away to come put it out, they were all scared of the extinguisher. So rather than argue, I instructed my son to unplug the toaster and use the water hose thing on the sink to save what was left of the kitchen cabinet.

Make every family member actually USE an FE to put out a campfire or something.

*Thats a great tip on the water heater hose, thanks

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Nice everyone. Thank you all for sharing. Lots of good info here.

 

[sb47]

I have used one a few times and they did the job quite well butt.
Unless I have no choice I will resist using one again. They make a big mess and the chemical can do almost as much damage as the fire itself.

I once had a carburetor fire in my car and I used a 2 liter bottle of coke-a-cola and that worked just fine. I put my thumb over the top and shook it up and sprayed the soda on the fire.lol

Was warming some taco shells in the taster oven and forgot about them till I saw smoke pouring out the door. Made the mistake of opining the door and letting air get in.
After it burst into flames I grabbed the extinguisher and put it out. Had to through the oven out because the dry chemical corroded everywhere it landed.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Also used one once to break out the glass of a truck when a guy had a roll over.

I had a similar thing happen on the way home from my mother in law's a number of years ago. I had just merged onto the interstate and gone approximately 1/2 mile when I saw a car ahead of me shoot off the right side of the road and into a tree. A state trooper in front of me, another guy and myself stopped. When we got there the car was beginning to fill with smoke and all the doors were locked.

The trooper gave me his keys and told me to grab the extinguisher in his trunk and I used that to break out the right rear passenger window. We got the door open and pulled out the woman in the passenger seat who was screaming that the driver was trying to kill her. She claimed he was doing drugs (he appeared to be in his mid to late 50's) and there were beer cans scattered on the floor. Got the fire under the dash knocked down and managed to get the driver out, but he was in bad shape. I clearly remember that one of his eyes was dangling from its socket.

Long story short, the extinguisher gave them a chance at survival. They closed down both lanes of the highway when I left and I saw the helicopter coming in a short time later. The car had South Carolina plates, i never heard what happened to either of them.