So the story goes that the International Space Station put out a request for proposal, to design a non-toxic fire extinguisher that could be used in a small space on electrical, solid and fuel fires. Enter the PFE series of extinguishers. They come in several different combinations and under several different brand names. Unlike BCF or powder, there’s no residue afterwards and the extinguishing material doesn’t kill you when it gets heated!

The ones we have are labelled FireTool, First Alert and the triple is a Turkish version. They all follow the same format though. They come with a vehicle mount and screws. There’s a safety catch in the form of a ring and a trigger. Simply pull the ring, point at the fire either through the little engine inspection hatch or stuff it up under the dashboard (they’re probably the mostly likely places for a fire…) and squeeze the trigger. They are a one shot deal and once triggered there’s no going back.

In Recce we have two PFE-1s and for now we have retained a powder bottle, but it’s diesel and therefore less prone to combusting on the side of the M6… I hope! Loki on the other hand is petrol, hence we have a PFE-1 and a PFE-3 triple, plus an old powder one for if all else fails.

Thankfully I haven’t had a reason to test if they work (thank you!) but they came recommended by a fellow Syncro owner who happens to be a firefighter! Good enough for me.

They vary in price from £20 to £50 depending where you look, but I’ve bought our PFE-1s for £20 and the PFE-3 was £34.99, from eBay and Amazon. Shop around.

By thelittleredbus