Evening star., 1922-03-19
BY ALBERT y. ATKINSON.

"And SO my car burned up and was
. total loss. as I carried no insur-
ance" That was all 1 heard of the
conversation. but it brought forcibly
to mind the constant danger from
fire to which a car is subject and
how little most people know about
what to do. They usually act as II
stunned or run around aimlessly,
without doing any good and some
times do positive harm. OF course.
a fire cannot be fought without some
means Of fighting it. but even when
the means are at hand they must
be applied correctly to be of any use.
In case of fire around the car
buretor the first effort should be to
the engine with the throttle wide
open some of the flame is drawn into
the inlet manifold. where it will do no
harm. The gasoline should now be
shut of at the tank so as not to
feed any more into the carburetor.
On account of the heat around the
float chamber the gasoline boils over
and so helps to feed the fire. The
suction produced by the engine on
the spray nozzle will soon remove
this danger If the supply is shut Off
at the tank.
If there is burning gasoline on the
ground under the car it will be use
less to put out the fire above until
the one below has been attended to,
for it will Immediately catch again.
The car should be pushed back or run
under its own power. This requires
nerve. but there Is very little danger
as long as there ia not a hot fire
under the gasoline tank. The move
brighter. but this is not dangerous.
1t has a tendency. however. to in
crease the feeling of panic-and panic
IS more dangerous around fire than
the flames themselves.
Our next effort should be to
smother the flames, which is another
way Of saying that we must keep the
air away. The best means fo.- 49,
purpose Is the liquid fire extinEu1sher.
As this fire gun" takes up very
on every car. Always direct it at
the base of the flames. The draught
carries the vapor up around the fire
and prevents the air from reaching it.
But do not use sand on any part of
the engine. 1t will do no good but
the mechanism. which must then be
completely disaSsembled and cleaned.
an expensive process. as / can testify
to my sorrow, for several times the
gines. thinking it the proper thing to
do. Sand is invaluable in fighting a
gasoline fire on the floor or ground. as it
absorbs the gasoline and builds up
a protecting cover which keeps the
air away. But never use it on any
part of an engine.
An ideal place to have = fire. if the
term Ideal can be used in this con-
nection. is around the carburetor of
a V-type engine. Here it Is closely
confined and the gas given off from
the liquid extinguisher is not blown
away. Start from the front near the
fan and work back. In fact. a fire
here may almost be allowed to burn
itself out. Ignition apparatus and
wires may be readily replaced If
damaged. but the real danger is in
setting fire to the dash and so con-
tinuing to the rest Of the car. There
is little danger from the vacuum tank.
If this tank is full the atmospheric
valve will be open. and if the tank is
empty the suction valve to the inlet
manifold will be open. In either case
the pipe to the main tank is open. So
the vacuum tank is always vented in
two places to carry off any pressure.
There is absolutely no danger of a
fame running back through. the sup
ply pipe to the main tank, SO you have
nothing to worry about in that re-
spect.
Water. which is SO useful around
sther fires, is absolutely useless with
gasoline and gets under the burning
liquid and spreads the fire. A small
fire around a carburetor might bt