Pit Fire Extinguishers

[michael.gonzalez]

Poor guy needs one of these:

One of the best I ever saw- On the way to a Silver Dust race out at Searchlight, Nv. in 1984, full size van filled with medical equipment on fire (about half involved) on the grade coming out of Baker at 2am. We stop to make sure the driver is OK. Too much fire for an extinguisher to put out. Truck driver stops, jumps out of the cab with his extinguisher, yells, 'GET BACK!' pulls the pin and THROWS the extinguisher through the melted front window of the van. Too much flashback to Nam I think.

 

[ACME]

What is the most common mistake that leads to a fire in the pits and what is the most common mistake that leads to a fire on a moving vehicle. I’ve heard fuel hitting the rotors or a turbo is a major culprit.

Poor fueling practices & equipment: With untrained people, that are in a hurry, who don't use common sense and make bad decisions...

In this case an ounce of prevention and planning is worth 10 pounds of reaction

 

[AZ7000']

And that is not necessarily what would be used on aircraft.

Please allow me to clarify

was with a team that knows their way around airplanes

These were not on board but at the hangars. I watched it cover the fuel from a 70 gal fuel tower that burst a seam on the 3 by mikes road, toasty out there. The lots of bubbles seemed to work great. Just my observation that it was bad ass fwiw.

 

[Tony_Murray]

Thanks for all the information

 

[SMS81]

Poor guy needs one of these:

I believe Brandon Arciero is a dealer for these, he is on rdc, he runs them in his truck. Really cool product. PM me and I will get ahold of him if you are interested.

 

[tapeworm]

Please allow me to clarify

These were not on board but at the hangars. I watched it cover the fuel from a 70 gal fuel tower that burst a seam on the 3 by mikes road, toasty out there. The lots of bubbles seemed to work great. Just my observation that it was bad ass fwiw.

They were designed for the aircraft industry. Problem is it requires an extra step. You have to charge the system by opening the little scuba bottle before expelling the extinguishing agent. If you open the bottle and don’t expel the agent within a short time frame (a few minutes) it essentially becomes a projectile because of the pressure buildup. They are not travel friendly so putting them in chase trucks isn’t a great idea, but with a really secure mount they can make it to a pit location via graded or paved roads. They are VERY expensive and have to be serviced yearly. I wouldn’t use one out of date due to the potential for projectile cannon action.

 

[jon coleman]

pkp is used in a/c environments, its a powder in one vessel pressurized by a separate tank, youve probably seen them on the tarmack at air shows, on a hand cart w - big wheels, is that what that tri- max set up is ?, or aaaf?, pkp is the best for b class fires, flammable liquids& is non elect.conductive, good for elect fires too

 

[Bro_Gill]

I believe the one they are talking about if like AFFF with compressed air used to make it extra foamy. Any of you 'retired' military guys who did crash rescue affected by the foam toxin issues?