Fire Extinguishers for the trail

[89Industries]

So since the SCX6 battery fire post came across today, I thought I'd ask what others do, if anything about fire protection while out in the woods.

As I said in the other post, I go trailing and crawling in an area that is more frequently experiencing things like the Marshall Fire in December 2021 that destroyed over 1000 homes and started literally 2 miles south of my house (luckily the 100 mph winds were going straight east and sent the fire down a valley away from my house, that I had owned for 6 months at that point).

It is also questionable if I am allowed to be on the trails with the trucks though other users generally don't complain and more often are curious and stop and ask lots of questions.

Anyway, I carry a small fire extinguisher with me on my drives. I carry one of these since it isn't too big or heavy.

First Alert EZ fire spray

I've been a bit concerned that it won't deal with the battery fire issue particularly well but figured I could at least keep it from spreading.

One of the Reddit posters on the SCX6 battery fire mentioned Element Fire.

These are a little pricier but say they deal with electrical and battery fires. They look neat, say they are lightweight and do not need maintenance over time like traditional fire extinguishers.

Anyone have any experience with these or more actual first hand knowledge of fire suppression applicable to Lipo batteries?

What say you? Do you carry anything for fires?

For complete disclosure, I also have 3 or 4 extinguishers in my garage (I weld and cut metal and wood in there, not an awesome combination, though I do clean up before welding to avoid sawdust fire, etc and I use welding blankets and other things to minimize risk), one under my sink in the kitchen and one in my sort of camper van. So obviously I am on the more cautious side.

 

[Timmahh]

not much you're going to do with a lipo fire but let it burn out.

My suggestion is to keep a small foldable shovel so a quick hole can be dug and the lipo buried until its burnt out. At least with a shovel you can beat out any fire that is igniting or again, start tossing dirt on it so it stops and is contained. Need to work fast on this things.

 

[high plains drifter]

I've never carried anything to combat a fire aside from a bladder full of pee. Boy.. that could be a vivid memory for the family hiking by.

Very valid topic though... especially in wildfire prone areas. We're typically in the same boat here in central Texas as other dry brush locations.

I like the foldable shovel idea too ( and could have some other uses out crawling/ trailing).

I feel like the main priorities would be to try to save as much of the rig as possible before it all goes up and obviously to stop the fire spread. And in that context I feel like a lightweight portable extinguisher could be a wise thing to consider carrying... especially if already carrying a backpack and again, in dry/ windy conditions.

 

[89Industries]

Shovel is a good idea. I almost always carry my backpack and a small poop burying sized shovel isn't going to be much additional weight. I didn't think I'd be down for a full on military folding shovel though.

I figure the extinguisher is to keep it from spreading to the surroundings. Shovel will help with that too.

 

[hnoroian]

As far as extinguishers go you better find a class D, your typical ABC classes WILL NOT put the battery out. It would help with the surrounding areas but a shovel would be much lighter weight, just like stoping out or kicking up the dirt around.

 

[89Industries]

Yeah, I think I came to the realization that the extinguisher wasn't going to stop the battery burning, just from spreading when I started researching extinguishers a couple years ago.

But you reminded me and looking at class d extinguishers, even then you need to make sure it's filled with the appropriate stuff for the lithium, which the article I found says is graphite based.

Then doing a quick search for that and I end up finding large, heavy and expensive extinguishers.

So off to the store this week to get another poop shovel. Having a couple of methods to try in case of emergency is not a bad idea. I like redundancy in safety systems.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

It's a good thought. A lot of us are out in the woods with potential fire starters. I personally don't worry about it, but I'm bad with safety.

 

[89Industries]

When I lived in Ohio, Michigan or Minnesota I wouldn't have given it a thought.

Except that drought year in the late 80s when the neighborhood sociopath decided it would be a good idea to play with matches in dry field.

When I lived and worked in Santa Cruz county we got evacuated from work when a car was spitting out chunks of it's catalytic converter into the weeds during a drought.

Then I was living in Oakland for the North Bay fire, the Paradise fires etc.
When the paradise fire was going I went to pick up a rental van from the sf airport on the day that the smoke was so bad that it was pitch black outside like it was 1am except it was 11am.

And the week my son was born the hospital had to cover the intake vents on the HVAC to prevent wildfire smoke from filling the hospital.

Then after his birth I got to go home for the first time in a few days to take a shower and the hillside was on fire next to the highway just up the hill from my house.

Then 6 months after I moved here, I was driving home from a doctor's appointment in my midroof height van and saw a box truck blown over on to its side into the median by the wind. My van survived that, but then a few corners later saw a wall of smoke across the road that looked like it was just across the main road from our house. Lucky for me but not many others, it was 2 miles south of our house. That was the Marshall fire.

Could see the beginning of fire smoke from our house though.

And later you could see the houses in Louisville, CO burning in the distance from them end of our street which overlooks some open space to the east.

Since then there's been 2 more fires closer to my house on the trails I often take the trucks to. Evacuated for one of them.

So I have become particularly sensitive to wildfire issues and do not want to be the cause of one.

 

[Gula]

Best bet is to try to bury the battery in dirt/sand. Or spraying it with any available water! (Pee) However, if possible to drop the battery into water, it will just bubble and release safely.

 

[89Industries]

Water here depends on season and location. And drought status for the year.

There certainly is some since my son found the only remaining puddle in a dried creek and dunked his not waterproofed truck fully in it.

 

[Gula]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to just run the battery in something the size of a scx6 in on of those explosion/fire proof bags from the get go! This gives me ideas for my losi hammer rey. By cutting up a fireproof bag like this:
I'd cut the lid partially off and use that to cover the battery compartment. This would cover 3 sides, minus battery door. Essentially protecting the electronics and containing the fire to come out the batttery door. Gives you time?

 

[89Industries]

Btw, this isn't really just an rc truck issue. NYC has banned e-bikes due to battery fires while charging.

Remember the iPhones that started on fire in people's pockets. lipo batteries

 

[high plains drifter]

I feel for you, @89Industries in regards to the fires in your area. We had 32,000 acres burn including some homes and beautiful old growth pines here in 2011. Uneasy feeling when the ash starts to fall in your own yard. I'll never forget he hillsides burning at night and so much smoke. But yeah.. smaller wildfires occur around here frequently. I'd hate to wind up in that situation out on a dry windy day without some way to contain/ extinguish. Here at home and in my jeep I'm otherwise covered.

 

[hnoroian]

So off to the store this week to get another poop shovel.

Vargo titanium dig dig tool.

Unfortunate part of this hobby (and others), just glad to see a the attempt for it not to spread. The heat from these batteries is crazy, much like magnesium it just won’t quit and somewhat easy to start.

 

[ferp420]

the firefighters have huge giant silicone blankets they use to cover the electric cars and smother them something like that would be easy to cary in a back pack and more than cover the battery/rig/what ever is buring and alot lighter than a fire extinguisher
if it works on full sized ev battery fires it should be more that enuff for a tiny lipo

 

[89Industries]

the firefighters have huge giant silicone blankets they use to cover the electric cars and smother them something like that would be easy to cary in a back pack and more than cover the battery/rig/what ever is buring and alot lighter than a fire extinguisher
if it works on full sized ev battery fires it should be more that enuff for a tiny lipo

Good call. I knew about the EV fire blankets for fire crews, but I was assuming that a blanket like that would be heavy, expensive and not come in a nearly appropriate size to carry with on the trail.

Just a few minutes of searching reveals:

3x3 EV fire blanket

Really not enough info on that site to make a decision but price isn't nearly as bad as I thought and 3'x3' seems ok.

I am planning to go get a poop shovel as they are almost no weight and would help smother using dirt and sand. And even with the blanket I would still want the extinguisher to prevent spread. By the time you get a blanket out I could see there being some spread to surroundings that neither shovel nor blanket will help with. Small extinguisher might be false hope but the pack I have makes it quick and easy access.

 

[JimrC]

I like the idea of the battery bag for the SCX6, would imagine it would give you a bit of time to remove the body and disconnect/remove a faulty battery. I also like the idea of a small shovel out on the trails as this could be useful at times for some mini-trail work Fire blanket and small pooper scooper sounds a good solution all round ... compact & lightweight.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Btw, this isn't really just an rc truck issue. NYC has banned e-bikes due to battery fires while charging.

Remember the iPhones that started on fire in people's pockets. lipo batteries

Well it is NYC and they are full of insanity. I think that ban was lifted though.

I'd say this is especially important in California where wildfires are constantly mishandled... That is insanity as well and I hope none of you have been affected by it!

 

[Gula]

When I was in the Air Force in the early 2000s we used to have to cover our 463L cargo pallets with fire blankets going to the pacific, or something to that tune, on an og airframe, iirc

These blankets were huge 10×10 fiberglass and weighed a hundred # or more a pop. Sometimes they required more than one and you always ended up itching.