Everyday that passes by in Lagos, there’s hardly a day that you won’t see a vehicle burning, or an already burnt down one by the street, or on the middle of the road. It’s really a helpless sight to behold. The occupants, if lucky, escape the raging infernos from the fires, and some, not that really lucky, get killed as a result of various degrees of burns sustained in such incidents.
Instance is, when I was returning from one of the holy ghost services at the Redemption Camp early in the morning some months ago, I suddenly saw a Corolla ’08 in frames, on the middle of the road. The owner of the car was no where to be found. Maybe, he has gone to look for “water” to fight the fire.
Note of caution please !
Don’t use ordinary water to fight an inferno. That accelerates the fire, because fuel is denser than water.
That day, before 8:00am, the car was totally burnt to ashes.
You could imagine environmental , economic, and psychological impacts that incident must have caused the owner, and the environment.
What would have happened, if other adjacent cars caught fire? Imagine the ripple effect of that for a minute.
Incidences like these prevail everyday in Lagos, especially areas where vehicles are at close proximity with each other
WHAT CAUSES SUCH FIRES
For a fire to start, there must be the presence of AIR, FUEL, and a HEAT SOURCE.
There are a lots of causes of car fires.
The most common ones are:
1. Fuel(petrol)
Leaks along fuel lines poses a dangerous threat to safety here.
Cars with a leaky injector nozzle system seals can allow tiny droplets of fuel drop on hot spots on an engine, or exhaust system, thereby leading to a fire. These seals are usually weak, when they are exposed to tremendous heat from the engine, and the atmospheric temperature of the environment. Normally at 60,000miles, such seals loose their sealing properties, and create fire risks.
2. Electrical issues
When you open up the hood of your car, you see bunch of wire harnesses, connectors, etc, acting as a conduit for the flow of current to various components of the car.
If any of these wiring harnesses has a SHORT CIRCUITS problems, the flow of current would be limited, at the load, leading to the current traveling to an undesignated route. This route could be the body of the car, which acts as a ground. This undesired current flow that has found a new path, could trigger a fire, if for instance there’s already a source of fuel provided by a leaky fuel system component. Bu!!! you hear. Suddenly there’s a fire raging.
3. Exhaust system
All internal combustion engine applications work through a lots of friction and stress, in order to produce the motion for the movement, you and I enjoy when we drive our new SUVs, or in a “danfo bus” cruising. But have you ever thought that those applications could go through temperatures of up to 2000C? With this kind of extreme temperature, coupled with outside temperature, that might be in the range of 30-40C, what do you expect your engine to do? A clogged catalytic converter would generate even more extreme temperatures that could instantly lead to a fire.
Even us car owners, look for an escape route, when we’re faced with the heat from traffic daily, and work stress. You escape that by putting on your car’s Ac system, to take away that heat, in exchange for a clean cool air. Isn’t it? OK. Same thing happens to your engine. This extreme temperature is exited through the exhaust system of the car, and straight to the environment.
Now, Fuel system routed close to exhaust systems are at risks of causing car fires.
Manufacturers have over the years, routed fuel lines away from exhaust systems, and even shielded the exhaust systems with shield materials to protect excess heat from setting off fires. Some fuel system lines also use heat shields, to help reduce the risks of fires.
4. Oil spills
Engine oils, and automatic transmission fluids spills on engine components like the transmission system, cylinder heads, exhaust system manifold, a rotating driven solid shafts, and on engine chassis, etc can cause car fires.
The reason being as these spills gradually builds up into a sludge on those components, they trap dirt’s made of combustibles, making them susceptible to generating heat and smoke, and then results into a fire while driving.
HOW TO PREVENT CAR FIRES
The most effective way to prevent car fires are:
1. Carry out preventive maintenance checks on all fuel, exhaust, and electrical systems at every oil change. These checks would help you determine their integrity, and eventually point out potential problem areas before they occur.
2. Ensure all maintenance/repairs carried out on the car’s fire prone systems, such as the fuel, exhaust, and electrical systems are properly done.
Proper laid down procedures regarding repairs and safety must be strictly adhered to.
Do not allow your mechanics to tell you, “Oga it doesn’t matter to put on an exhaust heat shield, or let’s manage the fuel line clips. It won’t do anything”.
If you currently have a mechanic like that as your mechanic, you gotta run brother!
3. Carry out steam washing of the engine bay monthly, or so. That would reduce the accumulation of oil spill build up on the engine area.
If you’re scared of allowing your engine to be steam washed, you could hand wash it.
***use solvents such as petrol, or diesel fuel, to help remove oil spills , and apply a soapy solution to wash the affected parts mildly.
NB: Ensure the cars ECU (commonly called brainbox), and ignition control modules are protected from water sprays. Because they could foul the system, and cause you tremendous money fixing them.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR CAR CATCHES A FIRE
Well, I know some of us are so religious, when it comes to predictive maintenance, and stuffs like that. But I think its cool for you to have some tips on your hands, just in case, perhaps, your neighbours car catches fire, this is what you should do.
1. If you notice smoke billowing out of the car while driving, pull over to a safe place, and park.
Don’t open the hood, because there’s a risk the fire could spread further, because opening up the hood, creates more oxygen intake for the car. And that accelerates the fire.
2. Get out of the car as soon as possible, If you can.
Do not attempt to return back to the car to rescue your laptop, galaxy note 7, and even your jewelry. I think its better you’re alive, than die in that fire.
3. Disconnect the power source, if you can. Some cars, like Benz, BMW, Renaults cars don’t have their batteries located at the front. They’re at the rear, or at the front passenger seat. Be bold enough to disconnect the positive terminal in order to cut the current supply to the electrical systems.
4. If you’re courageous enough, fight the fight with a recommended fire extinguisher class type recommended by your safety agency(FRSC). Could be a class B, or C. Depending on the specifications recommended.
5. Call the fire service immediately, if you’ve got no guts to stand against a fire.
CONCLUSION
Car fires don’t just start like that.
And even if they do, take preventive maintenance checks very seriously. Try monitoring the kinds of jobs, and the safety/repair procedures your car mechanic employ fixing your precious car. If you don’t, someday, you might just laugh-cry.
Hope this piece has enlightened someone on this platform.
Catch ya guys.
More, still coming.
By Tryco
