How to handle car fires

Trapped in a burning car during an Oct. 16 accident on the Hollywood Freeway, Alexis Reinoso, 22, slipped in and out of consciousness as two LAPD officers and bystanders frantically tried to pull him out.

His legs were “pinned between the steering wheel and dashboard, and he was screaming in pain,” said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Paul Waymire.

Flames were coming out from under the hood and windshield. “We were grabbing fire extinguishers and trying to keep the flames at bay,” Waymire said. As their last fire extinguisher ran out, the flames started creeping around toward the back of the car near the gas tank.

“I knew [the vehicle] was going to blow up,” said Waymire, a 16-year LAPD veteran. “I didn’t know how much time we had.” In a last-ditch effort to free Reinoso, five people, including rookie LAPD Officer Jeff Jensen, managed to yank him out through a passenger window to safety.

“Literally, a second later, we heard a big boom and 3-foot-high flames shot out of the windows,” Waymire said. “A few seconds more in that car and he would have been on fire. There would have been nothing we could have done.”

Last year, there were an estimated 266,500 vehicle fires in the U.S. involving passenger cars, SUVs and small trucks. These accidents killed an estimated 520 people, injured 1,300 and caused $1.3 billion in direct property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Assn., a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to reducing fire hazards. In California alone there were 7,764 vehicle fires, according to California State Fire Marshal data.

Although the number of highway-type vehicle fires has dropped from a record high of 429,300 in 1987 and a high of 740 vehicle fire fatalities in 1986, vehicle fires continue to pose a safety threat.

“In 2004, highway vehicle fires in the U.S. caused more deaths than apartment fires,” said James M. Shannon, president of the fire protection association. “The public needs to be more aware of this serious fire safety issue and take measures to lessen the risk of an incident.”

Though Reinoso’s vehicle fire was caused by a collision that spun his vehicle around, crashing it into the center divider, many vehicle fires are “caused by mechanical or electrical failure” that can often be prevented if the vehicle is properly maintained, said Dave Skaien, a repair specialist for the Auto Club of Southern California.

To alert motorists to the dangers of vehicle fires, Skaien said, the Automobile Club has joined with NFPA and firefighters nationwide in issuing a recent consumer advisory about the “size and seriousness of the vehicle fire problem in the U.S.”

Regular maintenance by qualified technicians is important for preventing such fires, said Marty Ahrens, NFPA’s manager of fire analysis services and author of a study on vehicle fires.

To prevent problems, motorists or their technicians who inspect vehicles should be looking for things such as loose electrical connections, worn or blistered fluid lines and leaking connections. Other signs to look for include damaged heat shields, especially those protecting catalytic converters, exhaust manifolds and other high-temperature heat sources, according to Ahrens and Skaien.

Ahrens speculates that the number of vehicle fires nationwide has decreased because vehicles are built with more safety measures today and because motorists maintain their vehicles better.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration refused to require new pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans to have portable fire extinguishers installed. NHTSA denied the petition by the Fire Equipment Manufacturers Assn., concerned that such a regulation could increase fatalities and injuries. NHTSA contended that many motorists do not know how to properly use extinguishers.

Ahrens’ study found that one-third of people hurt in vehicle fires were injured when trying to control the fire. Having an extinguisher in a vehicle could give a motorist a false sense of security, she said.

Experts offer these safety tips if a vehicle fire occurs:

* Pull over and put the vehicle in park.

* Turn off the ignition as soon as possible.

* Do not open the hood; more oxygen can make the fire larger and expose you to a sudden flare-up.

* Make sure everyone moves at least 100 feet away. Do not waste time getting belongings out of the vehicle.

Jeanne Wright can be reached at jeanrite@aol.com.