Quote:
Originally Posted by gandyfire
Most fire departments don't carry a class D on the rigs. They are seldom needed. Years ago, the VW beetle and older porsches would catch fire and they had magnesium blocks. Required large amounts of water to extinguish and most had to have an application of foam due to fuel igniting.
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In the Navy we were taught during our Fire Fighting training (required) that there was no "good" way to put out a magnesium fire and that application of water would simply make a lot of steam because Magnesium creates it's own oxygen as it burns. They demostrated by using an arc welder to ignite a chunk of magnesium - it was then picked up and dropped into a column of water in a ceramic pot where it continued to burn until it totally consumed itself.
I've worked on a lot of Porsche and VW engines and was never aware of magnesium used in the blocks. They were all aluminum to my recollection - although I must say that I never "tested" them for their alloy properties.
Please be aware that there are some fire fighting chemicals that can harm you or even kill you.
For your car, I would advise that you simply have what you need to escape the vehicle without injury - do NOT try and save the vehicle.
Get away from it and call the fire department.