[doc] Classic car fire.

["Chris Parnham" <secretary@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've had an exciting and dangerous afternoon.

My next door neighbour is into classic cars and has a L reg. Citroen SM,
immaculate 55k miles etc. 

 At about 2 pm he came rushing round looking for a fire extinguisher. I
gave him two large Halon one's but unfortunately by this time the engine
bay was well alight.

He is going on holiday tomorrow, and had left the car ticking over
between his house and garage. It suddenly stopped and billowed flames
and smoke!

When we had used the 2 extinguishes, to not much effect, I used his
garden hose to keep the flames away from the rear of the car (and nearly
full fuel tank)!  Be had to battle with choking fumes as the suspension
oil burnt very freely. The fire brigade arrived after about 10 mins and
finally put it out. Now a lovely car is "totalled". The engine bay ,
bonnet , bumper front tyre all burned to crisp. The interior had started
to melt but did not ignite.

It could easily have engulfed us, his timber clad house and double
garage. We are not sure what caused it, probably a fuel leak, but with
all that oil, wiring and plastic there is nothing that could have
successfully tackled it, other than a couple of damn big fire engines.

I spent all afternoon helping to get the thing back on 4 wheels and
dragged it up on my trailer and away from his house, to await the
insurance folk.

Lesson learnt?  Don't leave you car ticking over whilst you have a cup
of tea, do have a bloody great fire extinguisher to hand and use it
sooner rather than later,  have a battery isolator, that you can easily
get at just in case. (I have on both my DeLorean's) 

We were covered in black filthy muck and have had a few good lung fulls
of absolutely choking smoke. 

Years ago I did train as an auxiliary fireman, but it was still
foolhardy to continue to use the hose pipe, for the 10 long minutes,
with flames getting nearer to the tank all the time.

Regards
Chris Parnham
DOC 2
Vins 5638 & 20049 





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