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Incidents of vehicles or motor bikes going up in flames occur regularly on a roads. One observable fact is that majority of the victims or sympathisers lack adequate knowledge of how to arrest the situation. As a matter of fact, some do the wrong things.
In a post on social media this morning, the FRSC gave some useful tips:
”An automobile can start to burn because of so many things such as from electrical sparks, faulty wiring, over heating etc
1. In most cases the fire usually starts from the engine compartment
2. As soon as an automobile fire is discovered, switch off and safely discharge the passengers.
3. Reach out for your fire extinguisher, open the bonnet gently and discharge fire extinguisher directed to the base of the fire
4. The battery terminals may be disconnected to avoid more sparks
A jet of water may be necessary for passenger compartment fire. Also, the cooling of the tank with water spray may be necessary to prevent busting. All moving vehicles should be stopped and made to switch off the engine
All vehicles should park within reasonable distance from the leaking tanker
Allow only vehicles with spark arrestor fixed to their exhaust pipe to move across
Discourage/stop everybody within the vicinity from smoking Contact fire Brigade as soon as possible
Apply foam object spray or sand to dissolve the already leaded fuel. Improvise and stop the leaking.
If the petrol tanker is on fire, clear people from the vicinity and call fire Brigade. Don’t fire the fire leave it for the experts”.