paffemt
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Dave
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2018
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 321
- Reaction score
- 246
- Location
- Chester County, PA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 JLU Sahara
The source of the ignition was a flare that was used to ignite components under the hood. The flare did not stay under the hood.Ok, I've watched the video. It has frankly made me a skeptic of the test at this point. I have some burning questions, no pun intended.
I think we may need to start another thread becasue there are enough questions after that video that the discussion may derail this thread. I may actually do that soon.
So her's the first one. What was the source of ignition and how long was it burning before you pulled out the Element?
I'd bet most engine bay fires you attend to don't have the hood up because the drivers don't have a fire extinguisher of any kind.
I waited until smoke was showing from the car. This took a couple of minutes.
As for engine compartment fires, we find that for most of the car fires we've had, it took a minute or so from recognition of smoke coming from the car until they were safely pulled over. Based on the fact that the fire we started took over a minute for smoke to become really noticeable. So figure the fire had a good couple minute head start by the time someone was pulled over.
In my 40 years of doing this, half of them running calls on I-95 near Baltimore, most people are more worried about pulling over and then getting everyone out. Most of the time if a fire extinguisher had been used, it was supplied by someone who pulled over to help.
The test configuration was dictated by my chief, He has a few years on me in the fire service . I was hoping to have had better results, but ultimately I was not impressed. I just thought people would be interested in what we did. Unfortunately since I had to pay for the Element out of pocket, it limits me on how many tests I can do. I would be curious to see how it does on a fire after a crash where the front is crumpled and you have better access.