First Thank you John and Skyler. Second, this is not a criticism of this operation. It is a teaching moment. I have been there done that exactly what you are seeing here - struggled with a running fuel fire. I call these the two alarm car fire: it can frustrate and even embarrass crews who have never been properly shown how to deal with it. I have video and digital pics from all over the country of engine company crews trying to figure it out. So a couple of basic tips for dealing with the vehicle fire with a running fuel ignition 1. I am a true believer in smooth bore nozzles for structure fires, however the car/trash line should be equipped with an adjustable fog nozzle. Darken the vehicle down and cool the undercarriage with a straight stream and widen the fog nozzle out once you insert in the engine and passenger compartments. When using foam on a tight street like that the straight stream tends to plunge the foam into the fuel which just agitates it, aerates the fire, and saturates the foam in fuel as well as sprays fuel all around. The goal is always to apply foam as gently as possible. Narrow/ mid fog also keep rubbish fires debris from being blown all over. 2. On any car fire we should be looking to use our water judiciously, all around the country we see chauffeurs pumping structural pressures on car fires - you are unnecessarily making the nozzle team work harder, and you are using your tank water up much faster - not a problem on A typical NYC street where you can quickly tap a hydrant but a bigger problem if you are on a highway or bridge. Excess flows from the nozzle are also more likely to spread burning fuel down the block and around the corner. 3. After the main body of fire has been knocked down and you realize that there is fuel dripping/pouring from the car - you realize you have a running fuel fire. The tool of choice is foam - However , foam will not put out a 3 dimensional fire (burning fuel pouring into a pool or the ground from a height) ARFF crash trucks and many industrial firefighting teams utilize a dual agent nozzle with a technique called hydrochem. This was developed by the Navy during the Vietnam war on the aircraft carriers. Using AFFF foam and dry chemical together. Yes water and powder. Getting back to the vehicle fire with the running fuel fire- we can improvise and make a poor man’s hydrochem very quickly instead of pouring obscene amounts of water and foam on it and not getting the fire out. Soon or a later someone says “ let’s try the dry chem extinguisher “. So they shut the hose line down and shoot the dry chem at the fire and Shazam the fire goes out- yay! And then wumpff the burning fuel reignites! Gasoline has an flashpoint of negative 45 degrees F. So the hot metal from the burning car often reignites the fuel. So we use the hydrochem dual agent technique- squat down and direct a narrow (30-40 degree) fog pattern under the vehicle at the location of the fire. Water works but foam is better . Now insert the discharge hose of the dry chem inside the water/ foam fog pattern cone and fire the dry chem. The nozzle stream will carry the dry chem to the fire source and promptly extinguish it. When the fire goes out Do Not shut the nozzle down - allow the fire stream to cool the hot metal under the car to prevent reignition I have shared this with many company officers. We have all had fires like these. Many have contacted me some time later and say we used the hydrochem last night and it worked like a champ, thanks! Again , not being critical of the incident but rather using it as a teaching moment to work smarter not harder. If you can use it, glad I can help, stay safe brothers
