Carry a fire extinguisher

[Gazolba]

There have been many instances of school buses catching fire. I found a bus from Prince George's County on an auction site, so I looked up the school district and I found this sobering video:
Prince George’s Co. school bus catches fire (Video) | WTOP

[Carytowncat]

Great topic. Prince George VA? I am in Richmond, that's pretty close.
Funny i have 5 fire extinguishers lol one at the back, one next to the fireplace, one next to the coleman stove, one in front, and one in my truck bed.
Better safe than sorry, and i am flamable so...

[cadillackid]

ive got 2 5 pounders on the bus at all times... one in front one in back..

tried to help a guy with a Semi on fire when I was on my way back from texas last month.. fire was small and fresh... no one.. oi mean no one would stop for this poor guy.. I stopped and we knocked the fire down best we could with my 2 extuingishers. we got the underhood fire nearly out.. no one.. not a truck or another semi etc would stop and help so what was left of the fire got past the air-vent and into the dashboard...

the truck driver had one small 2 pounder that he had tried before I stopped.. im guessing if had 2 5 pounders then he couldve saved his own truck...
-Christopher

[mikeypj]

I haven't even gotten my bus and know where my fire extinguishers will be.

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[AlleyCat67]

Jasmine has a fire extinguisher in the overhead compartment at the front; I have two more extinguishers I'm going to put in; one in the bedroom and the other in/near the kitchen. I'll probably get a few more; one to keep in the engine bay, and a couple to put in the underbelly storage (one on each side).

[Dapplecreek]

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

...one to keep in the engine bay....

I understand a CO2 extinguisher into the air intake is also the tool of choice for a diesel that 'runs away' (when it fails to shut off and revs up, sometimes to the point of tearing itself up).

[milkmania]

I've got a 5 pounder mounted inside the front stair well, and 2 smaller ones mounted to my counter

[Scooternj]

I know I'm planning at least 3 portables onboard, and probably an automatic system in the engine bay. Something like this

[cadillackid]

wow! ive never seen an automatic... thats surely something to look into...

unlike modern cars, school busses.. esp the older mechanical ones are simple enough under the hood that I think a save can occur if a fire is caught early.. for one not so much plastic and junk to catch on fire as there is in consumer trucks / cars... the dashboards are still metal on most of our busses and most of them not sealed up with pretty plastic panels..

the thing that killed the semi tractor i stopped for was his pretty-plastic dashboard.. the fire got inside it.. I wasnt about to jump up in the cab of a truck where a fire was sealed in the dash.. there was heaby smoke from the A/C vents so i knew the fire was in that dash.. once the bottom panel melted down and the dash vents started to melt, i knew we were done...

on a school bus it seems like the access to get an engine fire out is decent on a conventional or an RE (if you know your RE is on fire).. in an FE it seems dangerous to open that doghouse thus letting the fire into the cabin... the automatic system would be a great way to knock a fire down at least till the local FD can get there...

back in 2001 I had a silverado (brand new one) catch fire while I was out on a country drive... my biggest nemesis in that case was the fact of having no idea how to describe where i physically was... what road i was on and what county, etc... in the case of my silverado, no one was hurt and the fire was no big deal.. truck was 5 months old, GMC bought me a new one..



I have no idea whether the later cell phones send true actual GPS coordinates to the PSAP when you dial 911 or not..(i thoght they are supposed to but when I called 911 for that semi fire the lady asked where i was and i couldnt tell her exaxctly.. I said weigh station and that got her aligned..) but knowing how to tell someone where you are or if setting up camp it seems like it would be a plus to be able to pinpoint an address or coordinates of your campsite to tell a 911 operator (or sat phone emergency operator)..

-Christopher

[mikeypj]

Blank responce..or just a i should have read back a comment or 2

[GreyCoyote]

Whoa. Tunnel vision here. Not a single extinguisher onboard Johnson!

Now thats just stupidity on my part... and thats getting fixed tonight.

Thanks for posting this!!!!

[EastCoastCB]

I've got a buddy who owns a fire extinguisher business, so I'm planning on stocking up on them myself. I have one big un for now.

[FunkyChickenBus]

Our bus actually caught on fire during the test drive with the prior owner! The brakes had seized up and started smoking, and by the time we got to a place we could pull over and take a look, there were flames under there! The PO stood there, frozen, while I grabbed the small extinguisher at the front door and handed it off to my husband. He quickly rolled under the bus and put out the fire.

Best line of the day from my husband: "so I wouldn't say that the fire was necessarily a deal breaker on us buying the bus" to the sad-faced guy who'd been trying to sell this little bus for years. Though we did get new brakes and a bit of a discount for keeping it from burning to the tires in front of him. ;)

And yes, we outfitted it with larger extinguishers located front and back. Never had to use them since.

[cadillackid]

good reason to make sure you have one available!!

of course when the last bus burned up there were probably a dozen fire extungishers within easy reach and not a single one of them was ever sprayed!!..

the 2 guys that set their chevelle on fire used their flannel shirts to try and beat out a fire... my bus sat near by with THREE.. one in front, one ion back, and one in a lower storage compartment with a big ole red sign that said "fire extuingisher'... all the doors were unlocked... oh plus the big 10 pounders on each pillar in that shared garage....

so it does help if peoiple will actually USE the fire extuingishers provided...
-Christopher