This article is going to be about car fires, or as I've heard them called, Car-B-Ques, by a reporter in Phoenix. This might truly be one of those things that you think could never happen to you, as it's likely you have never experienced one, and it's just as likely that you don't know anyone who has gone through one. That being said though, they are very dangerous, and a lot more common than you'd think. The website Business Insider reports findings of the National Fire Protection Agency that on average, 17 cars are burning every hour here in the United States. And these fires cost the lives of 209 people a year. Having said that, 209 deaths is a drop in the ocean compared to the vast number of people who die in collision crashes every year. But forewarned is forearmed, so let's see how to fight this particular kind of fire.
First off, what causes them? Well, when you think of it, it's a miracle that more cars don't go up in smoke every day. Your car's engine runs on very highly flammable gasoline. The engine in that car actually ignites that gasoline on purpose in the cylinders to make the car run, and your car has a specially built tank to house gallons of the flammable stuff so you can take it with you wherever you go. Add that to the very hot environment that a car's engine bay endures, and it's miraculous that car's don't catch fire more than they do.
So now we have two possible culprits: heat, and fuel. But there could be others. I have heard of car fires being caused by bunches of wires, called harnesses, which have made it so that they actually lay on the engine or exhaust manifold. The wires melt, then either the melting plastic causes a flare up, or the wires themselves spark, and cause fires.
What can you do to prevent car fires? Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. When you are underneath the hood, checking your fluids once a week, (you are checking your fluids once a week...right?), take a look at the whole engine. Don't just check the fluids, make sure they are all OK, then slam the hood down and go. Take a look at your whole engine. Does anything look amiss? Are there wires where there should not be, like laying on an engine or possibly getting snagged by the hood's hinges? Are there scorch marks or melted plastic from wires or other parts touching a hot engine? Can you smell gasoline when you are checking fluids under the hood? Being mindful of maintenance and making sure you check the whole car out is the first, best, step in preventing a car fire.
Now for the fun part. You're driving. It's a beautiful day and you're out having a blast driving on a gorgeous, twisty road. Or you are stuck in traffic knowing you have still an hour to go until you get home. All of a sudden you smell smoke, and even see smoke coming from your car. Then you notice how hot the cabin is getting, and you start to get a bit concerned. What do you do?
Well first off, pull over as far as you can out of traffic. If there is any smoke in the car, GET OUT! If there is any visible flame at all anywhere in or outside of the car, GET OUT! Whatever you do, don't open the hood if you see smoke or flame pouring out of it. Opening the hood will literally mean adding fuel to the fire because you will be doing just that in the form of oxygen. Remember the the legs of the fire pyramid?
Those three legs are represented here as the three sides of this triangle. A fire needs all three of these in abundance to sustain itself. If you take any one of these away, the fire will die. On the flip side, if you add any of these three to an already existing fire, let's just say the fire will take off...literally! Opening the hood of an engine bay which is on fire or is smoking will allow massive amounts of air to get in there, air has oxygen as you know, and this can cause a car to literally explode, especially if the hood was opened quickly.
So you pull over, and do not open the hood. Turn the car off, get away from it, and call 911. This is truly a situation where do it yourself isn't usually the best thing. The only thing that you could do to help the situation is if the car is not burning yet, and the smoke is not that bad. In that case, pull over and pop the hood. Notice I said pop it, don't open it. Popping the hood is what happens when you pull or push on that release in the cab. It literally pops the hood up a couple of inches so you can get your hands in there to open the hood. If it's safe to do so, pop the hood. Then go get your fire extinguisher (you do have one of those in your car, right? right?), and using only the gap that was created when you popped the hood, spray the extinguisher inside. Of course, if the car is already burning or if the car is engulfed in smoke, it's a lost cause. Do not get the extinguisher, even if you have one. Only try and spray the extinguisher as I just described if there is no visible flame and you have not opened the hood apart from popping it. This is what a popped hood looks like:
If, and only if it's safe to do so, you could try and spray the extinguisher into that opening that was made when the hood was popped. If it's not safe, run away, and let the car burn. Better the car burn, than you.
If the car is on fire anywhere else but the engine bay, that is an even greater reason to get out. Your fuel tank is behind you (on trucks, it can be literally inches from the back of your seat, in most cars, it's behind the rear axle), and if the fire is anywhere near there, run, don't walk, away. Fire is nothing to mess with. It will win if you try and fight it, so leave it to the professionals.
Get as far as you can, call for help, and wait. That is the smartest thing to do in case of a car fire. So to review, the primary causes of car fires and heat and fuel. Making sure you are taking extra time to look over your engine can make it so that a car fire is much less likely to happen because you are making sure that nothing in the engine bay could cause one. If one happens, you should only try and fight the fire if there is no visible flame and you have a fire extinguisher. Remember, never open the hood because that will make the fire worse, and no matter what you do, don't be a hero. Leave the firefighting to the men and women who get paid to do that for a living. The best thing to do in the end is to just get away. You are much more valuable than your car. Until next time...
Before I go, a quick shout out to firefighters everywhere, heroes all...
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