[CF105]

Fire causes people to react... irrationally, and forget the glaringly obvious. Like the extinguisher under the table.

No experience with Li-Po fires ( yet...), but have dealt with a few fires from rocket motors (composite, high-power ones). You can't douse them, best you can do is hose down the surrounding area to prevent the fire from spreading.

[michel gravelle]

Hi
Yep,.................. I put this video up here on RCC last year . And I fell apon it again the other day . Cann,t stop wondering why they didn,t use that extinguisher. Some people need help ,............ and than there,s the others

Michel

[cicopo]

Fire is something you either fear, like to watch or are trained to deal with. I had the good fortune of getting some training when I was much younger & joined the Air Force Reserve. Based on observation very few people react instantly when a fire suddenly erupts, irregardless of why. Add to that that even if they were to they most likely DON'T know how to actually use an extinguisher, let alone know it it's the right one for this fire. As someone who attends many local events to photograph them I can say I don't see many extinguishers around, which is a bit of a surprise considering the number of people fueling planes, but then again I haven't spent much time looking to see if & where there might be one (or more). Maybe it's time to add them to ALL flight lines.

[moo]

Originally Posted by Bdegan

Around a month or so ago, we had a heli crash at our field.
It was powered with a nice big 6S lipo.
One of the cells either shorted or punctured, because it started to burn.
We have a dry chemical extinguisher at the field. It didn't help. Wouldn't stop the Lipo.
All we could do was count off the cells as they ignited one by one over a 3 to 5 minute period.
Once we had counted that all 6 cells had burned out could we approah the heli remains.
It wasn't pretty ........

So your best bet with a LiPo battery is to try and get it in a nomex bag (aka LiPo sack)?

[moo]

Originally Posted by cicopo

...Maybe it's time to add them to ALL flight lines.

Then we would have to figure out how to keep them from being stolen...

[Dave Holmes]

Originally Posted by cicopo

Maybe it's time to add them to ALL flight lines.

Believe it or not, I have a small one hung on the side of my flight box. Mind you, it would not have helped in that fire. It was too far gone for my little one. I keep it just in case some of my glow fuel catches afire from somethin stoopid I might do.

[ronnieo]

Wrong fire extinguisher or not... they should have at least tried it on the rest of the burning carcass and residuals to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the flammables in the area. Im sure those gloves he was wearing into the fire were fire proof..Not!! This is a fireman's nightmare watching those boneheads.

[CF105]

Originally Posted by moo

So your best bet with a LiPo battery is to try and get it in a nomex bag (aka LiPo sack)?

Not worth the risk, IMHO. If you can get it free from the aircraft with no risk of injury... maybe drop it somewhere that can't burn: bare dirt patch, metal bucket, patio tile. Something like that. But really, for maximum safety, let it burn itself out, right where it is and soak down the area around it. Better a total loss of the aircraft, than the potentially devastating burns a person could receive.