Importance of Fire Extinguishers

Hi Guys,

Please do not under estimate the importance of having a fire extinguisher in your vehicle - I very nearly did.

I have had my vehicle for nearly 18 months and only just last Thursday got around to getting a fire extinguisher. It sat in its box in the passenger for 4 days before I had to use it....

I put the vehicle (Prado 150) in the driveway while doing some gardening for a couple of hours then moved it back in to the garage and shut the roller door. I was just about to step into the house when I noticed smoke coming from under the bonnet of the Prado. On popping the bonnet the dual battery isolator was on fire with a lot of smoke and about a 2 inch flame coming out of it.

I ended up emptying the contents of a 1.5kg fire extinguisher onto it in between disconnecting the batteries. I was 2 steps away from going into the house and shutting the door if that had happened bye bye Prado, wife's Subaru and probably some of the house....

I don't know why the isolator failed in such a way. ARB who installed the system are progressing my warranty claim. Hopefully they will replace it with a Redarc as I'm sure I need a smarter solenoid to separate my batteries. As an aside the RAC guy who I called to check I had correctly disconnect the dual battery system said that the wiring was the neatest and most professional looking job he had seen.

If you don't already please consider purchasing a fire extinguisher for your vehicle and having it somewhere easy to get at.

Thanks

Steve..