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Jesus gently caress, that's some nightmare fuel right there, and also why I could never be a first responder. I hope you have medical insurance that covers therapy..  As mentioned, a fire extinguisher isn't going to do poo poo against anything more than a small fire - they're basically useless against liquid fires (gasoline, oil, etc) once it's burning - and even then, most people panic and aim at the middle or top of the fire, instead of the base. The best someone might have been able to do would have been to slow down the flames a little, IF they had used the extinguisher immediately when the fire started. And with the way you say it was flaring up, and on its side instead of upside down, there's a very good chance the fuel pump was still happily pumping away. The engine computer should have shut it off once the engine died, but with it on its side, it's possible the engine was still running for a bit, until it locked up from oil starvation (or until some critical wires burned through). I have successfully used a fire extinguisher in a car fire before (10 pound ABC dry chemical), but it was my own vehicle, and it only worked because I pulled over as soon as I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood. It was a small fire caused by oil dripping from one of the valve covers onto the exhaust manifold (engine was also borderline overheating + over 105 outside), and it still took most of the (dry chemical) extinguisher to put it out (and keep it out, since oil kept dripping even after the engine was off). You can often find free or discounted first aid classes offered by your local fire dept, if you'd like to learn the basics of first aid - you'll learn when it's best to just call 911 and keep the person conscious without touching them, and when "gently caress it, they're going to die if I don't intervene RIGHT NOW, even if intervening means they may never walk again" matters. And, unfortunately, when it's best to just get the gently caress out. I don't know if it helps (probably not), but if the SUV was already on fire, even if you had an extinguisher, had shown up quickly, and somehow got her out without 3rd degree burns (and the only thing that would have protected you from them would have been your riding gear), she likely wouldn't have survived the burns. Getting someone out of a car on its side is a lot harder than one that's upright or upside down. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Jun 6, 2015 |
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Jun 6, 2015 06:32
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Ford has been doing the fuel pump impact sensor since the late 80s, at least. Basically since they started doing EFI. That said, I've seen pretty modern SUVs (think 2005+) get rolled, and the driven wheels keep spinning with the engine bouncing off the rev limiter until the engine seizes from lack of oil. The newer stuff relies on the airbag sensors to shut off the fuel, and since standards are so lax on SUVs (particular body on frame stuff), a lot of newer SUVs only had front impact airbags until pretty recently. I did see a brand new Honda minivan get t-boned last year; the driver couldn't see poo poo because of the 50,000 airbags that went off, and was so stunned that she just let it roll down the road for about a half mile. I stopped and helped them out of the van once it ran off the road and stopped; it was still in drive, but it was beeping, the airbag light was flashing, and it was flashing "ENGINE OFF" (or something similar) on the driver info display. I had a hard time getting past the airbags just to put it in park, and they had a hard time getting out of it for the same reason. Since everyone was out, I was more concerned with keeping it from rolling back into traffic.
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Jun 6, 2015 10:38
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Enourmo posted:I still occasionally meet people who bitch about seat belts. My stepdad refuses to wear his. Anytime he's in the car with me, I tell him the car isn't moving until he puts it on. If he takes it off while i'm driving, he finds out how hard my dash is and how well my brakes work. I absolutely refuse to get in a car with him behind the wheel, between him refusing to wear a seat belt, and how horrible of a driver he is (how do you rack up 6 tickets in a year without losing your license anyway?). Vanagoon posted:I think these are the same group of grognards who bitch about fuel injection. They don't need "The computer" telling them how their drat engine is going to run. See above. Despite the fact that his 14 year old truck (2001 F-150) has only left him stranded when the fuel pump took a poo poo (he got it when it was 2 years old or so), and gets double the mileage of the same model truck that I was handed down in high school (1980 F-150, I usually got 8 mpg highway, with a similarly sized engine, and less than half the horsepower, and it left me stranded constantly). And the truck he had before this one (a 1992 F-150) made it to almost 275k with nothing more than a starter and alternator before the transmission took a poo poo (did I mention he regularly pulled a trailer that was at least double the rated towing capacity of the truck?). He still thought it was worth getting towed over 100 miles home and dropping over $2k getting the transmission rebuilt, and drove it to nearly 300k before he decided "it smokes slightly at startup, it's a pile of poo poo now". The only other time his trucks have broken down have been from worn out batteries. He wanted to get rid of his current truck when the last battery took a poo poo, until I stuck a multimeter on it, we jumped it, let it run for about half an hour, then shut it off, and I showed him how quickly the battery died (it went from the ~13.8V of the alternator to <10V within 60 seconds, and was down to under 8 volts within 5 minutes). He still insisted it was a pile of poo poo for about a week after I put the cheapest possible battery I could find in it. Only issue it's had since then (almost 3 years ago, I think?) is the CD changer jammed. Domus posted:Please don't hesitate to help someone in an emergency due to fear of legal ramifications. Most countries have good Samaritan laws, legally protecting anyone who tries to help a person in immediate danger. This. In the US, there's some loopholes that expose first responders to legal issues (since they're the "professionals"), but the OP tried to get the driver out and was driven back by the heat, even in full riding gear (which we can probably assume was mostly leather, so that fire was very far along by then). kastein posted:Carry fire/theft insurance on your car. Carry the largest extinguisher you can, if you actually care about the car. Don't leave it in the trunk, it needs to be within arms reach at most. TURN THE IGNITION OFF AS SOON AS YOU HAVE ANY HINT OF A FIRE, this turns the fuel pump off so at least things will stop getting worse. Remember this may lock your steering column so turn it to off, then turn it back to accessory if you are still rolling and need to steer to the side of the road. Don't open the hood, it gives the fire more air. And last but certainly not least, GET OUT IMMEDIATELY. We really need to just quote this and take it to heart as if it's straight out of the Automotive Bible. Especially the ignition switch and insurance parts - comprehensive adds so hilariously little to your premiums, even with a low deductible (mine is $250), but so many people only carry liability. I don't care if it's a $500 beater, toss comprehensive on it, your insurance may wind up valuing it higher than you think if it has 4 round wheels and can move under its own power before the fire/theft/whatever. Also a good reason NOT to keep receipts in the car, keep them at home (better yet, do what I do and scan them, put them on a cloud server, and use the car maker's website to track maintenance - I use GM's Owner Center to keep track of everything) - those new tires you just put on won't be recognizable once the fire is out, nor will the new injectors, or any other work recently done that may have brought up the value. If it's a vehicle old enough to have a carb, it's possible it has a mechanical fuel pump, so simply shutting off the ignition won't do anything to remove fuel from the fire - only the engine physically stopping will do that. Really depends on the vehicle, the mechanical pumps were far more common up until the early-mid 1980s, and mostly common on domestics (Honda switched to electric pumps in the mid 80s, for example - to the best of my knowledge anyway). If I have another car fire, I'll try and put it out if I catch it early enough, but otherwise I'm pulling as far off the road as I can, grabbing my phone (and hopefully backpack, since it has all my meds + laptop, and lives on the passenger floorboard), and getting the gently caress out. First call will be to 911 with the location, followed immediately by a call to my insurance company to state "my car is on fire, I've already called 911, but I need to start the claims process". My car has a liner on the underside of the hood, plus a plastic cover over the engine itself, so there's a drat good chance it'll be too far along for me to even think about trying to touch it with an extinguisher by the time I get off the road.
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Jun 8, 2015 03:39
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door Door door posted:In relatively modern stick cars (2000+), will the fuel pump cut off after the engine stalls in a crash, or will it keep going until the ignition is turned to off? Generally, the engine computer shuts off the engine as soon as it senses that the engine has stalled. There's still enough remaining pressure in the lines to add fuel to the fire (.... literally and figuratively) though. It only takes one drop of fuel and an ignition source to start a fire. If the engine was hot enough, gas hitting the exhaust manifold could potentially start a fire, and a lot of FWD cars have reversed the orientation of their engines so that the exhaust is on the firewall side. Diesel is a bit harder to ignite, but can still burn if poo poo is hot enough. Like kastein said, it's safest to just assume that the fuel pump will happily keep pumping away until the ignition is shut off, and even then.... you don't know if the ECU may have been damaged in such a way that it continues to supply power to the fuel pump, or if wiring was damaged and somehow shorted that could potentially cause the same issue (such as a relay being crushed in such a way that it can't turn off). This isn't exactly a common thing, but when you're dealing with a vehicle full of flammable chemicals (about the only fluid in a car that's not flammable is coolant), it's best to be as cautious as possible as long as nobody is in immediate danger of further injuries (or worse). The Royal Nonesuch posted:If you have first-hand knowledge on this I'd be keen to hear it No first hand knowledge, it's just been beaten into my head several times. And by first responders I meant fire/ems/police, not a private employee. I've been told not to touch an injured person by multiple employers as well though, more because they don't want the liability. And not to apologize, because apparently that admits liability.  I got ripped a new rear end in a top hat by one manager once when a diabetic came up to me at work and told me they felt like their blood sugar was low (she was shaking really bad too); I ran and got them orange juice and a chair, told her I'd be calling medics, and asked if she'd like me to contact her family, and stayed with her until medics arrived. Apparently the fact that I got orange juice for her "opened us up to a lawsuit".  I found out last year that I'm diabetic, so I'd be pretty pissed off if I told someone I needed sugar and asked where I could find a sugary drink, and was told "sorry, my boss said I can't do anything except call 911".(she wound up being fine after a couple of bottles of OJ, medics came out and checked her blood sugar and determined it was low, but was coming up, and she left with a family member - my boss was glad I reacted, store manager was happy she left in better shape, corporate was very unhappy that I even acknowledged her) randomidiot fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Jun 9, 2015 |
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Jun 9, 2015 04:44
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Krakkles posted:To further touch on this, you can be hypoglycemic without being diabetic, but being hyperglycemic is indicative of diabetes. Hypoglycemia also occurs as a symptom of diabetes, however. Yup. I've swung from hyperglycemic to hypo as a result of medications, also as a result of not eating enough before going to work. The lowest I've managed so far has been 46 mg/dL, which left me shaking like a leaf in a tornado.
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Jun 10, 2015 02:29
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