1. Analysis of the current situation of car fires
The main reasons for car fires include two factors. On the one hand, it is caused by the low technical level of the car's own design; On the other hand, the materials used in the car body contain flammable materials. In addition, as the fuel used in cars is gasoline, and the engine has both electrical and oil circuits, if problems such as engine overheating, oil leakage, or aging of oil or electrical circuits occur, it is easy to cause car fires. However, as a means of transportation, cars are mostly in motion, and it is difficult to solve fires when they occur. If driving on urban roads, it is possible to use the fire extinguisher that comes with the car to extinguish the fire.
At present, most car firefighting equipment is portable fire extinguishers, which mainly cost halogenated hydrocarbons, dry powder or carbon dioxide. Generally, car owners place these firefighting equipment in the trunk of the vehicle, and after a fire occurs, the driver takes them out of the trunk to extinguish the fire. If the car fire is minor, this method can be used to quickly extinguish it. However, if the engine or other equipment causes a fire, this fire extinguishing method is no longer effective, especially in the event of a vehicle collision or collision on the highway, where the driver or occupants do not have time to remove the fire extinguisher from the trunk to extinguish the fire. For example, on the afternoon of June 30, 2015, on the Huzhou section of the Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway, a large bus caught fire at the rear. Although the occupants of the bus sprayed the fire extinguisher equipped in the vehicle towards the engine, it was unable to stop the rapid growth of the engine fire. After the fire extinguisher ran out of extinguishing agent, the fire became even more intense. The people around were frightened and took cover everywhere. When the fire truck arrived, the bus had already burned down to only a skeleton. It can be seen that most fire extinguisher devices on vehicles currently cannot effectively extinguish car fires.
II. Analysis of the causes of car fires
The causes of car fires can be basically divided into: electricity, oil, foreign objects, car design, etc.
Electricity mainly refers to the electrical components of a car. In many car fire incidents, the proportion of fires caused by circuit aging or other circuit problems is very high. Especially for cars that have been neglected for a long time, they are more prone to fires caused by aging circuits. For example, in some cars, the insulation layer of high-voltage ignition is damaged, aged, softened, and other problems, resulting in high-voltage electrical breakdown of the insulation layer and high-voltage leakage short circuit; Other insulation layers are easily connected to the metal materials of the vehicle body due to wear, which can cause circuit short circuits and spark problems.
Oil mainly refers to various fuels in automobiles. Many car fires are mainly caused by igniting the fuel in the car. In addition, the engine oil loaded in the vehicle and the grease in the car gearbox are flammable materials. These oils are likely to ignite and cause fires under open flames or high temperatures. The main cause of oil leakage in cars is traffic accidents.
The so-called foreign objects mainly refer to some flammable materials outside the car. After long-distance driving, the three-way catalytic converter, engine, engine exhaust and other equipment of the car will experience high temperatures. In the summer when the ground temperature is high, the temperature of the engine exhaust pipe of most vehicles is higher than 800 degrees Celsius. If the car stays on the ground with flammable materials such as licorice and paint piled up at this time, prolonged baking may cause a fire. In addition, in summer, after being exposed to high temperatures, the temperature inside the vehicle may rise to over 60 degrees Celsius. If the owner places flammable materials in the car, it will become the culprit of spontaneous combustion. For example: lighters, car mounted perfume, magnifying glasses, reading glasses, etc. There are also many examples of fires spreading in the interior of cars due to poor product quality.
Even the most expensive and well-designed cars can have flaws that can lead to vehicle fires. There are many examples of car design defects causing fires, such as the wheel arches and heat shields of the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia sports car, which are mechanically fastened and bonded with adhesive. At high ambient and operating temperatures, the wheel arches themselves may deform due to exhaust pipe heat dissipation. This deformed wheel arch cover is too close to the exhaust pipe, causing the adhesive used to overheat, smoke, and catch fire. During this period, multiple incidents of Ferrari sports cars catching fire were all related to this model of sports car.
III. Preventive Measures for Car Fires
Setting aside the situation of car fires, based on the four reasons for car fires, summarize some experiences in preventing fires:
（1） Preventive measures for oil fires
Most of the fuel fires in vehicles are caused by accidents that result in the rupture of the fuel lines under external forces. Even though most cars are equipped with emergency devices to cut off the power supply of the fuel pump, there is still oil and pressure in the fuel lines. Once the fuel lines are damaged in a collision, residual oil sprayed onto high-temperature components can still cause a fire. It is difficult to avoid fuel leakage in severe impact accidents, and the fundamental prevention method is safe driving to reduce the occurrence of accidents. In addition, oil pipelines may also be damaged due to aging, and maintenance of vehicles should be strengthened, especially during high temperature seasons. It is necessary to strengthen the inspection of various oil pipelines during daily maintenance, and at the same time, qualified accessories must be selected. For modified parts involving fuel, monitoring should be strengthened to prevent problems before they occur.
（2） Preventive measures for electrical circuit fire
The wiring of most cars will experience heating phenomena such as rubber aging, damage, and increased wire resistance after long-term use. This requires car owners to regularly maintain their vehicles and replace aging wiring in a timely manner; In addition, the terminals of the car's battery must also be checked in a timely and regular manner to see if there are impurities, corrosion, oil stains, and other problems that may cause heating due to loose contacts; Or it may be due to the problem of loose circuit contacts caused by long-term vibration or sudden temperature changes during the operation of the car. Young people nowadays are very fond of modifying cars. During the modification process, it is inevitable that the original circuit equipment will be damaged, which is also a reason for car fires. Car owners must go to a regular place for vehicle modification.
（3） Preventive measures for foreign object fire
Car owners must regularly check the various items placed in the car and must not place flammable or potentially hazardous items inside the car. It is advisable to park your vehicle in an underground garage or parking lot during summer. In addition, car owners can also purchase some sunshades for their beloved vehicles, which can not only lower the temperature inside the car, but also reduce the probability of the vehicle catching fire in summer. Attention must also be paid to the trunk of the vehicle, and do not place the remaining maintenance oil in the trunk. If the oil is exposed to the sun in summer, it is likely to turn into fuel and add fuel to the fire. Various cleaning agents are also flammable and cannot be stored in the trunk for a long time.
（4） Measures to address hidden dangers in automotive design issues
If there are problems with the design of a car, it is often impossible for the owner to detect them themselves. Therefore, the owner should pay attention to relevant information and take timely action regarding any content related to their car. If any abnormal phenomena occur while using the car, especially when they smell some burning odors, they must not take it lightly and communicate with the repair shop and manufacturer as soon as possible for investigation.
IV. Firefighting Strategies for Automobile Fires
With the rapid development of China's economic construction, more investment has been made in infrastructure construction. Many expressways and first-class highway in large and medium-sized cities have been opened to traffic, which has played a positive role in promoting China's economic development. However, car fire accidents are also inevitable. Here, the author mainly analyzes the firefighting strategies for car fires on highways.
（1） Mobilize fire trucks nearby to ensure timely arrival at the fire scene
There is a basic principle in the firefighting front, which is to use water sources nearby and strive for early water discharge. On highways, especially expressways, there are basically no outdoor fire hydrants and very few natural water pools. Therefore, the early release of water in the event of a vehicle fire on the highway refers to the timely removal of water from the fire truck. Each highway is scattered in different geographical locations, and due to the varying lengths in different areas, when a car fire occurs, it must not be limited to which area the fire truck should be dispatched by the fire brigade under its jurisdiction to put out the fire. Instead, a comprehensive consideration should be given to car fires on highways. This requires each fire brigade to strengthen communication, cooperation, and collaboration. After determining the fire brigade that is close to the fire scene, they should be dispatched in a timely manner to shorten the firefighting time and strive to release water early and extinguish the fire as soon as possible.
（2） Reasonably choose routes to ensure that fire trucks occupy advantageous geographical locations
With the rapid growth of car ownership, road congestion is a major obstacle to highway car fire rescue. Especially on fully enclosed one-way roads like highways, it is difficult for rescue vehicles to arrive at the scene in time for rescue in case of a car fire. So when a fire occurs, on the one hand, the command center needs to deploy multiple points, that is, when a fire occurs at the same location, several fire brigades should be dispatched according to the road conditions to ensure that rescue forces can arrive at the scene in a timely manner. On the other hand, when the fire truck rushes to the fire scene, it should choose a reasonable driving route and strive to arrive as soon as possible. At the same time, it should be noted to engage in combat on the side of the road that is relatively open and where no accidents have occurred.
（3） Quickly evacuate the surrounding residents and promptly rescue the trapped wounded
Car fires that occur on highways usually result in severe deformation of the vehicle, serious damage to the doors, and other issues, making it difficult for injured people trapped in the car to escape normally. What's more, there was a collision of multiple vehicles, which required firefighters to evacuate the surrounding people first after arriving at the fire scene, and make full use of fire demolition tools to rescue the wounded trapped in the vehicle under the protection of spray water flow.
（4） Quickly control the spread of the fire and extinguish it as soon as possible
Although car fires that occur on highways are different from indoor fires that occur in residential buildings, commercial office buildings, etc., their degree of harm is the same. Therefore, when firefighters arrive at the scene, they should follow the basic principle of "control first, extinguish later", fully consider the limitation of water sources, and adopt a quick and decisive combat plan. For fires caused by multiple car collisions, they must be quickly and effectively extinguished, and the occurrence of spontaneous combustion of vehicles must be prevented. During the fire extinguishing process, water flow is mainly used to cool flammable and explosive areas such as the vehicle's fuel tank and tires. The water gun used for control and attack in firefighting should mainly be a direct flow water gun, as it has a large flow rate.
Five ideas on car fires
At present, the fire protection work of automobiles and other transportation vehicles is highly valued both domestically and internationally. However, there are still deficiencies in the current fire protection work regarding what kind of equipment can be used to more effectively prevent and control car fires, and how to quickly and effectively extinguish fires and ensure the safety of personnel and vehicles in the event of a fire. The current firefighting equipment carried by cars cannot meet the needs of firefighting. This is a problem that requires joint consultation and efforts from car manufacturers, manufacturers, and fire departments to solve, and it is also the way out for car fire prevention, control, and firefighting. In this regard, the author proposes a few rudimentary ideas.
（1） Set up fire hazard alarm devices
The causes of car fires, excluding human factors, can be divided into three categories: oil leakage, circuit failure, and mechanical failure. Regarding these three types of reasons, the author believes that effective prevention can be achieved through technological means. One is to set up an oil leakage fault alarm to monitor the overall oil circuit of the car. Once an oil leakage occurs, an alarm will be issued to prevent oil leakage from contacting high-temperature areas and causing a fire. The second is to install a circuit short circuit alarm device. Install a device similar to a circuit breaker in the car to automatically cut off the power supply in case of a short circuit in the circuit, preventing the generation of electric sparks that could cause a fire. Implementing sleeve protection for car wiring can also prevent the aging and short circuit of the wiring from igniting combustibles. The third is to set up temperature alarm devices. More than 80% of fires caused by mechanical failures are caused by high temperature friction in the wheel hub of the car. Therefore, temperature sensors can be installed in corresponding areas to issue an alarm when the temperature in that area is abnormal, reminding drivers to stop and check to reduce risks.
（2） Set up automatic fire extinguishing devices
From the perspective of historical car fires, the initial fire intensity is generally not large. Most car drivers use the mobile fire extinguishing device installed in the car to extinguish the fire while reporting the alarm, but the equipment installed in the car cannot completely extinguish the fire and can only watch helplessly as the fire spreads and expands. The root cause is that the mobile fire extinguishing device on the car is too weak. Generally, one to two dry powder fire extinguishers are equipped on the car. However, the fire extinguishing efficiency of dry powder is not very good, which cannot effectively extinguish fires, and the supply strength of dry powder in fire extinguishers is insufficient, making it difficult to maintain during firefighting. I personally think that research can be conducted from two aspects. Firstly, developing fire extinguishing agents for gasoline and diesel fires to improve their effectiveness. The second is to utilize the vehicle itself and equip it with a vehicle mounted fixed fire extinguishing device that is larger than a portable fire extinguisher, to increase the intensity of fire extinguishing agent supply and extinguish the fire in the early stages.
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