I remember reading in the old (I mean REALLY OLD) Mother News Almanac, that using baking soda on a fire produces CO2 gas, and extinguishes a fire pretty quickly. So now I keep a one pound box of baking soda, wrapped in tin foil to find quickly, in my vehicle, and in our kitchen.

My question is would that be safe to use on electrical fires too? How about fires in vehicle engine compartments? Anyone know or seen the results of this?

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@gboultinghousesimpson.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

I always thought it worked by suffocation action, not the CO2, so you could probably throw dirt on a fire and accomplish the same thing.

Of course, depending on where the fire is, anything used to extinguish the fire will damage the item, perhaps beyond salvaging, but then again, usually putting out the fire is the main priority, saving "stuff" way down the line.

Reminds me of when we thought about changing insurance on the house, and one insurer said there was a discount for having a working fire extinguisher, and the other said no. The one that said no said there was no data to support that having the extinguisher actually made a difference, not to mention that most people get one and never replace it, and often don't even know how to use it. Just better to be safe around the house and prevent fires before they start.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), October 30, 2001.

baking soda works great on grease fires,, keps them from splattering, and soaks it up. IF you mix baking soad and vinegar,, you just made an extinguisher. It wont work on electric fires, nothing to soak up,, a car fire, maybe, depends if its oil, or electric, or acid from the battery

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 30, 2001.

I keep baking soda by the stove also, and have used it a couple of times for grease fires in the oven (turkey overflowed the roasting pan, usually). It works fine, though there is, of course, an awful mess to clean up afterwards. I *think* it is a mechanical action (smothering) as someone already stated, and dirt would probably work as well, however, I would rather keep a box of baking soda by my stove, than a box of dirt! :-)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 30, 2001.

I seem to remember something about salt being used. That could be the old suffocation thing, though. Anyone else ever hear of salt for fires?

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

Thanks for the information, people. . . I really thought that heat and baking soda produced CO2 (some kind of chemical reaction), but 'smoothering action' sounds even more plausible. Guess I better keep some vinegar nearby too; thanks for the tip, stan.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), October 31, 2001.