Grass fires under vehicles.

Totally agree with Craig's assessment. Leave the bash plate where it is. Regular checking when in grass country and a good fire extinguisher and a water filled spray bottle. Just remember to take your dry powder extinguisher out of the car every few days and give it a shake. A light few taps against the tyre while held upside down is good. This will ensure that the powder which will have settled into a solidly packled mass while travelling over rough roads, is "fluffed" up and loosened so the extinguisher works when you want it to. An ounce of prevention as the old saying goes.

Cheers Mick

Agree 100% with Crackles and Mick O.

When we travel and know we are going to go through long grass we carry a 8Lt. garden sprayer full of water just in case, a garden sprayer is better then a spray bottle as you can get it into more spaces and you have a lot more water at your disposal.

So fires can only be put out with water.

The garden sprayer also acts as our shower.

We are lucky that our vehicle has good ground clearance and not alot of places grass can collect.

Mick O so how was the Holiday?

Hi Mick
Long time no hear. I hope that you have had a great time. Alan has been keeping us up to date. How much long are you out in the scrub?

Cheers

Stephen

Now thats ingeniuos...if not illegal, but would work very well for whats it designed for (ground clearance excepted)....

Next we will have aftermarket exhausts much like aftermarket snorkels....designed to suit a particular need.

A dry chemical powder extinguisher is great for oil/fuel/electrical fires but not especially suitable for grass/spinifex fires. This is because they remove the oxygen, once you stop 'spraying', there is still enough heat in the grass/spinifex to reignite the fire - water is best for this type of fire, then remove the remaining grass/spinifex with a long stiff wire.

Remember the fire triangle? Fuel, heat & oxygen.

...and switch off the engine to avoid adding more heat!

A clarification. Dry chemical extinguishers do not remove oxygen (one side of the fire triangle) They interupt the chemical chain reaction (stop the sides of the fire triangle interacting). The extinguisher rating is what is crucial for its effectiveness on grass and spinifex. A rating ending in B(E) is suitable for flamable liquid (class B) fires, flammable gas fires and fires involving electricity. If you use these on ordinary combustibles like grass, paper, cars, etc, (class A) the flame will be knocked out but it is likely to re-ignite. Look for a dry chemical extinguisher with an AB(E) rating. (eg. 1A 5B(E) or 2A 20B(E) ) The AB(E) powders leave a covering on the burning material to prevent re-ignition. It will cost a little more but is well worth it. The numbers - the higher they are the more efective they will be. Submit the water bottle and the garden sprayer for testing and they would get an A rating.