This was TOTAL deja-vu for me! I had this happen to me 6 weeks ago; take a look at message 12482 <http://www.egroups.com/message/dmcnews/12482> > the switch shorts out. It sparks. > No problem. As the smoke clears I drive. [snip] > At this time, flames start coming from the dash. [snip] > My girlfriend and I can manage only two words: Fire Exinguisher! > The manager comes out, give two quick bursts in the dash to put the fire > out. [snip] > Damage to the car looks minimal, since the fire burned for 30-60sec. max. No > damage to the dash I can see. Biggest problem is the Fire Extinguisher > material(a white dust) that covers the interior. I hope we can vac that out. You have got to get the powder out as soon as you can!!! The powder is "Hygroscopic"; it attracts moisture. My car was "saved" with a powder-extinguisher too, filling my complete interior in a thin white coat (look at < http://www.vdwouw.demon.nl/fire/powder.jpg> for a picture of my interior after my fire) I vacumed the car the moment I got it home, but due to insurance-claims and such this was two weeks later; when I pulled out my radio, the casing had specs of rust on it from the moisture collected in the powder. I even found a thin sheet of white on the INSIDE of the display of the radio! > The moral of the story: BUY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!! > We were lucky the whole car didn't burn. A fireman told me that when the flames hit the roof-lining you can allmost allways kiss your car goodbye, I'm glad this didn't happen to me either. Even if my Escort isn't even worth 1/5 of my D, it's still a part of me... > I plan to buy one today for every car I own. Do this as fast as you can! When my Escort caught on fire I was actuallty running some errants; on of them was getting two extinguishers, I had planned to do this after two more errants... Guess I was too late! When you do buy any, buy the powder-variety; they're the best for engine-fires since they leave a retardant coat of the mess on the materials... I wanted to get a CO2-kind, but the same fireman as above told me I'd be better off with powder. Also get a big one; 1kg is too small to put out most fires once they're really burning. Go for 2kg at least! Only problem I have to get over now is where to put the damn thing: what good is an extinguisher if it's locked away in the trunk! Greetings from a fellow-victim, JAN van de Wouw Thinking Different... Using a Mac... Living the Dream... Driving a DeLorean... #05141 "Dagger" since Sept. 2000 check out the Delorean-Files at: http://www.deloreanfiles.nl/ ------------------------------