# Have you ever used a fire extinguisher? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635 "2017-11-04T02:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/41 "2017-11-06T15:37:34Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > … > One high point of Navy training: putting out a swimming pool filled with burning oil using only water from fire hose. We all know that you should never try to put out burning oil with water, right? In that extreme scenario it worked, using the technique we were trained to use. Wow, we never did that one. What was the technique? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/42 "2017-11-06T15:46:30Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Wow, we never did that one. What was the technique? You are asking me about something that happened during the Reagan administration and has been subsequently lost to the sands of time. At best, I seem to recall it involved low velocity fog applied in a certain manner, possibly two separate hoses with different kinds of fog. To be honest, this seems to make sense since the problem with oil fires in the kitchen is that the entire pot of oil is far above the boiling point of water and causes steam explosions with consequent burning of the spraying oil. In a swimming pool full of burning oil, most of the oil isn’t at 400F, and fog would allow the water to cool and smother the fire without injecting water into the hotter parts of the oil. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/43 "2017-11-06T19:43:20Z")
This last summer, at the end of a long, frustrating day trying to start my Jeep, I crossed the positive/negative jumper cables between my BMW and Jeep. The Bimmer’s battery is in the trunk, so I had the Jeep’s snout a few feet from the car’s trunk. I cranked over the Jeep, it caught, and . . . Behold . . . **smoke**! Then **flames**! I ran into the house, grabbed an old extinguisher the previous owner had left us, flew outside and covered the Jeep’s engine and BMW’s trunk in extinguisher foam. It put out the big flames and my brave neighbor ran over and removed the cables from the Jeep’s battery (thanks, Mike, and I’m so glad you’re not dead! :eek:) I don’t know how I knew the steps to using the extinguisher, as I’ve never been shown how and had never used one until the Great Car Fire of '17. I just pulled the ringy-thingy, depressed the other thingy and voila! The carnage: Jeep’s battery was toast and I had to get the engine professionally steam cleaned to get the foam’s powder residue off. She worked just fine afterward. The Bimmer’s battery didn’t toast, but I’ve been unable to get all of the powder residue out of the trunk’s carpet. It’s a freakin’ miracle I didn’t ruin both car’s electrical systems. ETA: Crossing the cables was an accident, it wasn’t some new fangled hack I was trying. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/44 "2017-11-06T21:04:57Z")
Pretty much any time I do a chemistry demo with thermite. The thermite itself just burns out(being a metal fire, it’s resistant to extinguishers), but it often causes secondary fires in the thing I was melting/burning with the thermite. So if I’m demonstrating thermite and I choose to melt an old hard drive or something like that, the plastic of the housing, or insulation, etc. will burn and I’ll need to put it out once the thermite reaction is complete. When I was working on airport property they’d have the airport fire department come out and teach us how to do fire suppression. They had a pretty cool rig with a specialized fire extinguisher which was basically a UV flashlight but the right weight and size. Then they had a board with those LED flames and a row of UV photocells at the base of the flames. As you swept the nozzle of the extinguisher across the right part of the “flames” they’d get smaller and eventually go out. And yep, PASS was the word of the day. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/45 "2017-11-06T21:44:48Z")
Not an extinguisher, but I have put out a couple of kitchen grease fires by grabbing a box of baking soda and throwing it on the flames. I know, not the same. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/46 "2017-11-07T02:26:15Z")
Once upon a time a car pulled into the parking lot of my workplace, the owner jumped out and popped the hood, to have flames leap out of the engine compartment. Being a resourceful young man, I quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and knocked back the flames until the fire department showed up. I thought I was at least a minor hero – for about ten seconds, when my boss glowered at me and said, “Now I have to pay to get that extinguisher recharged.” ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/47 "2017-11-07T02:34:58Z")
I drove a Vega race car. If you know anything about Vega’s, the engines were pieces of crap. I went through 7 engines and 3 or 4 fire extinguishers before I parked the car. Also used one at work when a printer starting sparking and smoking. ---
**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/48 "2017-11-07T17:48:46Z")
I have done several training sessions at work with the in-house fire department, which came in handy… My propane grill needed the grease pan cleaned out, but I thought I’d cook one more meal before getting down and dirty with it. Bad decision:smack:; the grease pan got hot enough to catch fire. Before I could deal with that, the supply hose from the tank melted through and was venting directly into the fire. Thankfully, my little home dry extinguisher knocked out the flames, and I shut off the tank before more bad things happened. I replaced the grill and extinguisher, and I clean the grease pan MUCH more often now. Keep your grill away from your house, and keep your extinguisher close but away from the flame zone! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/49 "2017-11-07T18:47:02Z")
Yes, I’ve used fire extinguishers on more than one occasion. I’ve always managed to put the fire out. In one case there were about 4 of us with extinguishers (and we were successful). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/50 "2017-11-07T19:24:45Z")
I have, similarly to several experiences related above. Many moons ago I was an ass’t. manager at a big box retail store and was put in charge of monthly safety demonstrations. In one such demo I intentionally set fire to a stack of cardboard on the asphalt drive behind the loading dock, then showed the assembled staff how to use the powder based extinguisher to safely put it out. After successfully extinguishing the flames I noticed that the end of the extinguisher hose was still “smoking” (leaking powder) so, in a flurry of bravado I blew on the end of the hose and stuffed it in my pants pocket old west style. That powder, whatever it was, not only irritated my skin something awful, it permanently stained a good pair of suit pants. Such things can happen when one goes off script… ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/51 "2017-11-07T21:41:58Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Not an extinguisher, but I have put out a couple of kitchen grease fires by grabbing a box of baking soda and throwing it on the flames. I know, not the same. Not much different from a dry chemical extinguisher. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635/52 "2017-11-09T21:51:42Z")
Many times, but only for training purposes. I conducted the yearly fire extinguisher training at my company. We never cleaned up the mess. We used a brush pile on the outskirts of the property and left it as is for the next year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-a-fire-extinguisher/800635.md?page=2)