Stopped by our boat storage yesterday to pick up the tube for the kids. I already had the boat out from a few days before bc I took it to get de-winterized. When I got to the storage, the road was blocked off by the fire dept and they had a couple of the big ladder trucks fully extended spraying water on top of the area of our boat locker. Here is today’s aftermath. Apparently an owner was starting his xj when it burst into flames. If you look closely you can see some charred remains. Other than what you see, it looks like an mg-td bit the dust, along with several boats. Made me want to double check to make sure my xke is insured properly. My locker was directly across, about 20 ft away and was unharmed. Be safe out there.
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XJS? Well known for going up in flames.
I see a T bird, and an old Packard, I think… sad.
Very sad.
Quite disheartening.
My son’s first jag (XJS) burnt in our driveway. Very thankful my garage is always full of non-running projects!
IIRC the fuel lines running over the top of the engine tended to leak.
This is why, at my shop, I had 10, 20-pound fire bottles, never more than 10 feet away from any car I was working on.
Oh boy,that’s terrible, particularly for all the other owners there. Fire is the thing I’m always most afraid of, especially after a rebuild or restoration job. I once had an engine fire at the gas pumps in a Lotus Elan, luckily put out right away with a Halon spray bottle.
Only once did I have an incident with My 3.8. I was about to get it out of the garage after its winter storage one year, sitting in the car with the door open, ignition on and pressing the starter a couple of times. It would usually start right up after sitting but it didn’t this time. Luckily, just then, I noticed a growing pool of gas spreading out from under the engine over the garage floor and switched the ignition off right away.
One of the floats had stuck and gas was just pumping out the overflow. I should have waited and listened for the SU pump to stop ticking but I guess I forgot that time. Anyway, I certainly didn’t want to try starting it any more until it was outside so I got some help to get it pushed out of the garage. I was just imagining a spark from that big old Lucas starter right over top of that pool of gas.
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Just wondering, is the guy with the jag ultimately liable? One of the bays had $50k in custom cooler bags sitting there in a pile of ashes. Uninsured.
Probably, if the investigation proves conclusively they started it. I can pretty much guarantee that insurance companies will try to subrogate their claims back to that owner and/or that owner’s insurance company. How successful that will be might depend on the language of the contract that was signed to use that shared storage. Did the contract release the property owner from liability, or every other party that rents from them?
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I always always always have a fire extinguisher in every car. I have a 10 pounder in my e-type.
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I have one of these in the armrest cubby.
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Is there a less-expensive but as effective version of the Element?
Not sure, never investigated. Just looked it up and purchased one after seeing it on Jay Leno’s Garage.
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I ve been considering them. Has anyone actually used one?
As to the price…. Well if it saves your car or house or boat, who cares!
If you factor in the extinguishing capacity and the fact that it never expires its not that expensive.
Not that I care that much about the price, but if there’s an equal product for less money, why not?
Conventional FE are bulky and harder to store. So easier and faster access is big deal
Looked in to the Elements, seems they are not regulated. Thisis from their own FAQs:
"Originating in Italy, Element has been certified for sale in Europe by CE and TUV. Institutionally it has been tested and certified for use by multiple international military and police groups who have adopted it for active use.
In North America, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is responsible for the certification of fire extinguishers. UL does their testing to a standard that contains a form (physical shape) component followed by a performance component. Because Element’s form does not fit inside of UL’s guidelines of what a traditional fire extinguisher looks like (i.e. compressed gas cylinder with a hose and measurement gauge) it is immediately passed over for performance testing. At present UL is being campaigned to update its standards to recognize the different form offered by Element and allow it an opportunity to be tested and certified.
Until the standards are updated Element cannot be used to substitute extinguishers in regulated environments that require a UL (or UL endorsed) certification. Element can however be freely used as an supplement to the extinguishers used where regulation exists.
There are no restrictions in non-regulated environments (car, home, personal garage, etc.) allowing Element to be used."
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From what I can find, the Element brand extinguishers utilize potassium nitrate in generating whatever they do to smother a fire. Another brand that uses the same technology is Fire Stryker.
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