What to Do if Your Car Catches on Fire

A fire in one's car or is a frightening experience and can be extremely dangerous if not handled correctly.

A significant percentage of smoking vehicles leads to serious consequences and most car fires could be avoided with proper car maintenance as 75% of car fires are caused by bad maintenance as opposed to car accidents. Preventative measures include checking fuses on a regular basis, ensuring that both the oil and petrol caps are securely closed at all times, investigating and correcting any oil leaks and ensuring that the exhaust system is in proper working order. In the unfortunate event of a fire in the engine of your car while you are driving the following procedures should be followed:-

1. Signal your intentions and move to the left lane.
2. Get onto the shoulder or breakdown lane.
3. Stop immediately. Fire feeds off oxygen and even slow forward motion will force air into the engine compartment, basically stoking the fire.
4. Turn off the ignition.
5. Get yourself and all other passengers out of the vehicle.
6. Move away from the vehicle as quickly as possible and stay away from it.
7. Burning plastics and other materials of the car can produce toxic gases so keep yourself and any onlookers away from the burning vehicle.
8. Warn oncoming traffic.
9. Notify the fire department.
10. Don't attempt to try to put out the fire yourself.
11. Notify your insurance company so that they can give you instructions regarding the handling of the insurance claim under your car insurance policy.

In all vehicle fire situations, the first thing to think about is personal safety; any vehicle can be replaced-humans cannot. Think and act quickly, in the safest way possible.