Does anybody use the Firestryker or Element sticks?

[PranK]

The videos on Youtube look terrible, they don't seem to do much to a fire at all.

I wanted to replace the extinguisher in my car with something smaller but I might hang off this move until there's good evidence.

[Duncan]

Never really looked into them, because for me racing regs require certain nominal kg weight traditional extinguishers.

 

[The Bogan]

I was looking for one for the MX5, but it looks like I could get 3 or 4 1kg Firebox extinguishers for the price of one Firestryker

From my experience at work, the yearly service is just looking for external damage and the pressure gauge,  if all is well they stamp the tag

For training at work we have actually used old extinguishers that have passed our, "replace after 10 years" requirement, and have never had a issue with them as long as they are still showing green on the gauge

The only really benefit I see is the lack of mess the Firestryker leaves, whereas dry powder is a corrosive devil and it gets everywhere 

[MBS206]

On 10/23/2024 at 4:49 PM, The Bogan said:

I was looking for one for the MX5, but it looks like I could get 3 or 4 1kg Firebox extinguishers for the price of one Firestryker

From my experience at work, the yearly service is just looking for external damage and the pressure gauge,  if all is well they stamp the tag

For training at work we have actually used old extinguishers that have passed our, "replace after 10 years" requirement, and have never had a issue with them as long as they are still showing green on the gauge

The only really benefit I see is the lack of mess the Firestryker leaves, whereas dry powder is a corrosive devil and it gets everywhere 

From what I've seen and experienced first hand with those powder extinguishers, they're good to use to break a window and escape the car, and half the time then do f**k all to stop a fire. You just need much more than 1KG worth of powder. Not to mention, half the time it's an engine bay fire, and you can't easily, and do not want to completely open the bonnet, so you're left pretending to be an American Infantry... Spray and Pray baby!

 

And then 100% that shit is really destructive afterwards!

 

Realistically, those little ones at a race track might help you keep the fire from growing and give the fire marshal / truck a chance to actually get to you with their multiple large bottles.

 

For a road car, these days, prepare to deboard as quickly as humanly possible, and move to safety. Allow insurance to fix replace it (unless it's like a rare classic etc, then do nearly everything possible to save it!)

Keep the little extinguisher with you to help protect other things around you from burning while you stand there singing "How can we sleep while our beds are burning?"

 

Secondly, powder extinguishers I freaking hate for indoor use, (this isn't really relevant to a car) as you will get a powder fog around you, and it can be disorientating.

 

When I did fire training when at BlueScope Steel, they have (had?) their own fire brigade on site. We did all the training, and at the end we were told, "If it's an indoor fire, and you need to use a powder extinguisher, we as the fire brigade would rather you just exit the building, you're more likely to get lost in the smoke and powder fog than do much help, so just GTFO"

And pretty much that was what they said for most other fires too, grab extinguisher, if it's much more than paper in a bin fire, use extinguisher to get you and others out of the building to safety...

 

Part of me wishes when my Skyline caught alight many moons ago, I let insurance sort it out, instead of putting the fire out... part of me now says "But I've saved a classic before it was a classic!"

[niZmO_Man]

C'mon Matt, our cars are classics now... *looks at 1kg BigW bottle mounted in front of seat* ah that's been expired for a while now... 😢