"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
On 12/23/2014 1:12 AM, Don Foreman wrote:

I keep spray bottles filled with water in the kitchen and basement,
nominally to clean up spills and dewrinkle line-dried laundry. The
other day one was handy when ashes dumped on the compost pile began to
smoulder.

My quick-reaction outdoor fire extinguishers in warmer weather are
garden pump sprayers with the hose and nozzle replaced with sink
sprays, meant for showering with kettle-heated water. 3/8" copper
tubing replaces the skinny dip tube. A little leakage at the gland nut
isn't a problem, it's only water.

Previously I had old department-store pressurized water extinguishers
scattered around. The one time I needed them the old man across the
street started a brush fire cutting up scrap metal and fell when he
jumped back. He had no running water, but I heard him yell, saw him
lying next to the flames, raced over with water extinguishers and put
it out. Their narrow high-pressure stream isn't as efficient on
burning leaves as the wider, less wasteful sink spray pattern, and the
garden sprayer can be left unpressurized so it won't leak empty.

I don't understand why so many people freeze into shocked inaction
when a fire breaks out unexpectedly. I've grabbed a kid's Coke bottle,
held it upside down and controlled the spray with my thumb to put out
a small wall fire over a stove pipe while the rest of the group stood
like statues. Then the kid was mad about his Coke, nevermind that I
saved his cabin.
-jsw