Is This Retired Firefighter's Claim About Putting Out a Car Fire Correct?

[u/AffableEffable]

Hi, I ran into this discussion on twitter, and most people in the comments were really mad at the ELBainter person (who claims to be a retired firefighter). I know absolutely nothing about any of this, so I was curious: are they right and the people there are just stupid, the opposite, or something in between?

[u/feather_34]

This retired FF is 100% on point with this.

Car fires are an absolute grab bag of things that can go wrong.

The obvious fuel tank aside, vehicles have other components that are highly flammable and/or explosive such as but not limited to:

• Airbags

• Shock absorbers in the suspension

• Shock absorbers in the bumpers

• Oil reservoirs

• Tires

• Magnesium components

In addition to that there's also potential for highly corrosive materials such as:

• Rubbers and plastics

• Caustic adhesives

• Lithium

In summary, anything short of an absolute deluge of water or foam will do precisely fuck all for a car fire once it's started.

[u/TLunchFTW → u/feather_34]

Even firefighters can forget the contents of the car is apart of the equation too. Nothing like a summer car fire and turns out they were hauling 2 30lb propane tanks in the trunk.

[u/Level9TraumaCenter → u/TLunchFTW]

Reminds me of a call I was on maybe 26 years ago, Memorial Day weekend and traffic was backed up on the Interstate as far as the eye could see in rural New Mexico. It was a big pickup truck with a towed camper, and it was "no man's land" for response- an area between districts where different departments had declined to respond. I was en route and my radio battery died, state police informed me when I arrived that our department had cancelled their response.

The truck was burning from the front back, and there were two big ol' propane tanks at the front of the camper. I didn't know when help would be coming, and knew that if the tanks got involved, it would make things far more exciting for everyone involved, and decided to go pull them as the personal risk was low. I had a adjustable wrench in my bunker coat so I put on every last scrap of Nomex I had, went up and disconnected the propane tanks, and hauled them back maybe 50 yards and put them on the inside of the guardrail, away from the fire.

Eventually a department from 20 miles away responded with a brand-new Humvee brush unit, and the pump wouldn't prime. Next nearest department responded maybe 10 minutes later with a tanker; they popped a tire and drove in on a rim, leaving a gouge in the asphalt on the shoulder for maybe 3-4 miles. Nobody had any bunker gear, nor SCBA, so I asked if they minded if I'd grab the nozzle and went at it.

It was stupid and I got steamed, but traffic was literally backed up at least 5-10 miles.

Rural ops are a whole different species of firefighting.

[u/feather_34 → u/TLunchFTW]

Absolutely.

I worked a car fire once and the dude was hauling extra gasoline and fireworks for the 4th of July.

Nothing like dodging Roman candles in turnouts

[u/TLunchFTW → u/feather_34]

I feel like every firefighter has a story about a car fire with gasoline and fireworks or propane. It’s murphy’s law. The coolant system will fail at the most inopportune time when you are carrying the most flammable substances.