One last thing is a link to a video that took place last weekend illustrating the importance of having a fire extinguisher. In this case a guy took his BMW to the track and a loose can of WD40 arced on the exposed battery terminals causing an immediate fire. Fires are not always in the engine bay and they happen for all kinds of reasons.
Like most fires it starts off small and manageable but, in the time it takes the track marshal to arrive with a fire bottle, the fire grows considerably further damaging the car and getting close to the point where it would be too big to fight it with a fire bottle. The owner of the car desperately tries to do something but with no fire fighting tools at his disposal all he can do is helplessly watch his car burn.
Once a pair of fire bottles arrive, more realities are seen. Most people have never used an extinguisher and the two guys here are obviously panicked and inexperienced meaning that a lot of their 9-11 seconds of fire bottle time is spent shooting at anything but the fire. In the end it takes the life of both bottles to JUST put out the blaze.
Had the owner of the car had an Element in the glove box, this particular fire is a perfect example of one that could be fought passively by lighting the Element, putting it in the trunk, and shutting the lid. Alternatively, had it been fought the traditional way of pointing it at the flames, then the fire would have been out much sooner and with no mess, minimizing clean up and collateral damage.
Here is a link to the video (note there is some NSFW language):
https://www.facebook.com/clippingpoi...6895243500072/