Picking the right fire extinguisher for your classic

[Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of Classic Motorsports.]

Fire burns hot no matter the day or occasion. It doesn’t care if it breaks out during a quiet drive through the countryside or a major race on the international scene. 

Many competition venues have required fire-suppression systems for decades. But what about your street or show car? Go back to the first sentence of this article: Fire burns hot no matter the day or occasion. Cracked fuel lines and stuck floats happen, and fire is a possible result. 

“In the pre-show paperwork, we do ask that they bring a fire extinguisher,” states Chris Brewer, director of event communications for The Amelia. While carrying any fire extinguisher is better than no fire extinguisher, are you toting around the right one? 

Know Your ABCs

Different classes of fire exist, depending on the type of material that’s burning. These are the three classes you’re most likely to encounter in a car or at the shop:

• Class A: Combustible materials like paper or wood.
• Class B: Flammable liquids and gasses, including gasoline.
• Class C: Energized electrical equipment.

Before you’re tempted by one of those $20 extinguishers from the hardware store, consider the cleanup. Photography Credit: David S. Wallens

Consumer-Grade ABC Extinguisher

You’ll find these general-purpose extinguishers for sale at your local home improvement center. They contain a dry chemical, likely ammonium phosphate. 

• Pros: Huge availability, pricing starting around $20 per extinguisher, rated for A, B and C fires. 
• Cons: That dry fire-fighting agent is corrosive and tenacious. So while you stopped the flames, you also filled every nook and cranny of your car with a corrosive powder. Have fun cleaning. Powder can also compact due to time and vibration.

Consumer-Grade BC Extinguisher

These also line the shelves at your local big-box store, and prices also start around $20. The big difference: These BC dry chemical units feature sodium bicarbonate, a fancy term for baking soda. So while they’re not rated for Class A fires, the agent isn’t corrosive. 

• Pros: Effective against many automotive-type fires, easy to source at a very fair price. 
• Cons: Not effective against combustible materials, and that sodium bicarbonate will also find every crevice in your car–again, expect a big cleanup job. 

Aqueous Film-Forming Foam

When it comes to motorsports, a lot of fire-fighting systems use aqueous foam as an agent, AFFF for short. It’s basically a nontoxic, soapy water-like solution that’s rated to fight A, B and C fires. In addition to the complete systems plumbed into race cars, hand-held AFFF bottles are also available at prices starting around $100.

• Pros: An environmentally friendly ABC fire-fighting agent at a fair price. 
• Cons: Initial bottle cost plus two-year recertification process of about $75. While the agent is easy to clean from some surfaces, AFFF can fry electronic components while making a mess of soft interior parts–seats, carpets and the like. 

Halon Replacement

Halon served as a favored fire-extinguishing agent for decades, as it’s extremely fast and effective against ABC fires yet also non-damaging to delicate electronic components. No cleanup, either, as this liquefied gas dissipates after extinguishing a fire. But one problem: Halon depletes the ozone layer, so its production has been largely banned since the ’90s. 

Today, though, halon replacements exist, offering all of the halon performance benefits without the environmental impact. These halon replacements come from several companies, including 3M (Novec 1230), American Pacific (Halotron I) and DuPont (FM-200). Halon replacements can be found powering many higher-end fire-suppression systems–found in both in motorsports and general industry–while hand-helds for automotive use are offered from companies like Lifeline USA and SPA Technique. A 1-kilogram bottle retails for about $250 to $275. 

Today’s Halon replacements, like this Lifeline Zero 360 hand-held bottle, cost more but won’t leave a mess. Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

“This stuff is safe for any electronics, and while you can saturate your interior with it, it will evaporate fairly quickly–like, a few minutes,” notes Brandon Marshall, brand manager at Lifeline USA. “So no cleanup–other than the fire damage–or potential for further damage.

• Pros: Very fast and effective at fighting ABC fires, no residue left behind, easy on even the most delicate electronics.
• Cons: The initial price and a requirement for service every two years at about $125.

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