gpfarrell
04-08-2004, 10:44 AM
Please forgive the length of this....
Logan's mis-adventures (see the Lounge) rekindled my feelings for fire extinguishers, and reminded me I need to put one in the Marauder.
While I don't think Squad 51 and Engine 51 together would have saved a smoldering that moving van, most car fires start small... they don't end that way.
I've been close to four of them.
The first was in the late 1980's... the floats stuck on my 4bbl carb, and flooded the 460's intake with gasoline. The fire started small, but grew fast. If it weren't for a fire extinguisher located just inside a nearby building, I wouldn't still have my first car. I got lucky.
The second was in the early 90's. A little Dodge was smoldering on the side of I-90 near Erie, PA. A truck driver and I each pulled over to help, but the fire had already been burning for a few minutes, the hood release had melted, and nothing we were going to do would save the car. The fire trucks were there in minutes, but it only took seconds to destroy the car. She didn't get lucky.
The third was a sub-zero day in Pittsburgh when starter fluid, stupidity, and impatience all conspired to warm-up my Mustang way too fast. Having learned from the first fire, I grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the trunk and the damage was limited to a few vacuum lines.
The fourth was my sister-in-law's 1984 Mustang GT convertible. It had been sitting for months & my brother and I tuned it up with fresh plugs, etc. I took it for a test drive. Ran great. Backed it in his driveway and we noticed little wisps of smoking puffing out of the grill. Bad valve cover gaskets had leaked months of oil onto the exhaust manifolds, and the heat from the test drive set them ablaze. Fortunately, my Mustang was parked next to it, and its fire extinguisher was only seconds away. That afternoon my brother replaced my fire extinguisher and bought a few for himself. It's a vivid first-hand lesson.
I'm not sure if I'm prone to bad luck or just dumb that all these fires have found me over the years, but Logan's story reminded me that my Marauder needs a fire extinguisher in the trunk, and I think your's deserves one too.
Logan's mis-adventures (see the Lounge) rekindled my feelings for fire extinguishers, and reminded me I need to put one in the Marauder.
While I don't think Squad 51 and Engine 51 together would have saved a smoldering that moving van, most car fires start small... they don't end that way.
I've been close to four of them.
The first was in the late 1980's... the floats stuck on my 4bbl carb, and flooded the 460's intake with gasoline. The fire started small, but grew fast. If it weren't for a fire extinguisher located just inside a nearby building, I wouldn't still have my first car. I got lucky.
The second was in the early 90's. A little Dodge was smoldering on the side of I-90 near Erie, PA. A truck driver and I each pulled over to help, but the fire had already been burning for a few minutes, the hood release had melted, and nothing we were going to do would save the car. The fire trucks were there in minutes, but it only took seconds to destroy the car. She didn't get lucky.
The third was a sub-zero day in Pittsburgh when starter fluid, stupidity, and impatience all conspired to warm-up my Mustang way too fast. Having learned from the first fire, I grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the trunk and the damage was limited to a few vacuum lines.
The fourth was my sister-in-law's 1984 Mustang GT convertible. It had been sitting for months & my brother and I tuned it up with fresh plugs, etc. I took it for a test drive. Ran great. Backed it in his driveway and we noticed little wisps of smoking puffing out of the grill. Bad valve cover gaskets had leaked months of oil onto the exhaust manifolds, and the heat from the test drive set them ablaze. Fortunately, my Mustang was parked next to it, and its fire extinguisher was only seconds away. That afternoon my brother replaced my fire extinguisher and bought a few for himself. It's a vivid first-hand lesson.
I'm not sure if I'm prone to bad luck or just dumb that all these fires have found me over the years, but Logan's story reminded me that my Marauder needs a fire extinguisher in the trunk, and I think your's deserves one too.