4WDmonthly Burning Spinnifex article

Yeah you need one of those 8 litre Lawn/ garden Poison pressure sprayers that you can fill with water and then pump it up and jam the hose under there and give it a gut full of water.

G'Day Robin,

When shopping for an extinguisher, was advised by a CHUBB fire safety guy to only purchase an extinguisher with a flexible hose, that way you get full use out of the bottle and can direct it to where it is required.

I ended up getting a 2kg with a bracket to fit the back of the wagon.

They are better stored laying down then upright as it prevents the powder from settling on the bottom

Regards

Rolande

Yeah I read that today as well Robin , nice 4b and holiday stuffed.
Maybe not having chassis rails maybe a good thing when it comes to grasses.
They did all the right things you would think.

How would you feel just watching it all go up after all your attempts to put it out failing, break your bloody heart.

Jeff M. (SA)

Clearing out spinnifex twice per day??? Hmmmmm??

Just before I travelled the CSR a Ford Explorer went up in smoke, the stories were they were occcassionally clearing the spinnifex.
When we did the CSR i carried a 5 litre garden pressure sprayer, a piece of wire with one end in the shape of a hook and leather gloves.
the exhaust system on V6 petrol motors are a high risk. The pipes come out from the left & right bank and join together under the body prior to the catalytic converter (approx 400-500 degrees F) then onto the exhaust. There is a valley formed where the pipes run parallel and the spinifex loves it . Depending on how high the spinnifex was dictated as to how often I would clear underneath. The smell of smouldering spinnifex is with you all the time. I was clearing from periods of 15 minutes to an hour. The vehicle just seems to suck it up and it sits above the catalytic converter and begins to smoulder.
The other danger is where you stop to clear it. You need clear ground, the risk being if you stop over small mounds of spinnifex, the smouldering bits drop into that then you could have a fire.
I considered a fire extiguisher, but once you have used it end of story. I found the garden sprayer sufficient plus being able to fill it up again. The pipes also have a protective cover around them which is generally 2 halves bolted together, the spinnifex mounts up between the joins and smoulders in those gaps.
For about 2 months after finishing the CSR we could still smell smouldering spinnifex from the exhaust system.
We passed the Explorer it still had the engel inside blown jerries. It was truly a sad sight and you couldn't help but feel for those people affected.
You just have to be prepared!!! But seriously clearing spinifex 2 times per day???
Hence, I now have diesel.
Happy and safe travelling....Nugget

Robin

I don't want to sound insulting, but refer to Willie's response (41508).

I'm getting a bit sick of the dibble related to this subject.

If you want protection from spinefix do this:

Cable tie a double layer of shade mess to the top of the bull bar. Allow a significant layer to hang in front of the car (almost reaching the grown).

We adopted this during our roo shooting days and never had a problem.

Hope this helps

Kim

Following on from Footloose, it strikes me that the WA deserts are a much greater fire risk than the central deserts.

We also carry a 4litre sprayer - it's main function is as our camp shower - gives a good shower with 1.5 litres of water. I'd wonder how good it would be at putting a fire out though - that mist is pretty fine.

I thought that 4wdmonthly article was very good. There was another 120series Prado burn last year as well - but it was a turbo-diesel.