Get a BIG one! Those small auto extinguishers give you one chance at a small fire
Last time I used one was on the freeway. A guy had pulled over and was emptying his little one in the engine bay. It had started right against the firewall and by the time I got pulled over and to the vehicle the cloud was dissapating. It was an older import pick-up. The fire had gotten through the firewall and the carpet had caught. I opened the driver's door and shot a blast towards the floor I then closed the door to try and keep the chemical in and air out. The hood was open and there still was a little flame so I gave my second blast into the engine bay and tried to spread it out over both sides. I dropped down to pavement level and melted burning plastic was dripping onto the asphalt. I sent a third blast underneath right by the wheel and then ran around to the passenger side and gave the 4th blast there.
That's when I noticed the gas. A nice foot to two foot wide path from the truck, down the asphalt, to the cement curb / drainage. The firewall lit up a little again and the extinguisher coughed it's dying breath at it. I took a step back just in time to notice the cloud in the cab was dwindling enough for the fire to spring up again and it took all of about a second for the entire headliner to burn from one side to the other.
All in all I'd say I got about 10 seconds out of my Kitchen / office sized extinguisher.
That was it. I took a few steps back and I could see plastic dripping on the pavement again. Just like in the movies the plastic drip, drip, drip, gas caught and shot a nice flame down the trail of gas to the curb. Of course there were some weeds there and they started. It was just a small patch but the second or two it took me to get there it grew to about 4' X 4'.
that's it, I'm done. I retreated as the patch hit the 30 to 40 foot embankment at about a 45 degree angle. Then it was "Welcome to Cali-fornie!" as the dry grass hill side went up! Cooked the pine tree on the way up and burned hot. There was a wood fence at the top but true to form of this mini wildfire the moment the fire hit the top of the hill it ran out of dry grass. I thought it was going to jump to the houses but the 15' tall flame dropped back down and started a slow widening.
Then the Calvary.. er Fire Truck arrived. They put out the hillside first and while they checked for hotspots 2 guys pulled a second hose out and tried to drown the truck.
The fire must have started from intense heat and not a spark cuz it died way back and probably out once or twice but as soon as the Co2 dissapated it sprang up again.
Now I carry two extinguishers.
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