If a fire starts in your vehicle, you should do which of the following?
- (a) Avoid opening the hood if the fire is under it.
- (b) Avoid using water on gasoline or oil fires.
- (c) Use as much extinguishing material as you can.
- Do both (a) and (b). ✓
Answer: D. Do both (a) and (b).
You should do both: stay away from opening the hood if the fire is under it, and keep water off gasoline or oil fires.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's fire guidelines cover both points. If the fire is under the hood, you aim the extinguisher from below the vehicle or through the radiator and leave the hood closed. And water should never go on a gasoline or oil fire, because it spreads those fires; you smother them with an appropriate extinguisher, sand or dirt instead. Both rules appear together in the same list of general guidelines, so the choice that names both is the complete answer.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. (a) Avoid opening the hood if the fire is under it. — Leaving the hood shut is only half of the handbook's advice, so it misses the rule about water on fuel fires.
- B. (b) Avoid using water on gasoline or oil fires. — Keeping water off gasoline and oil fires is only half of the handbook's advice, so it misses the rule about not opening the hood.
- C. (c) Use as much extinguishing material as you can. — The handbook says to hold back some extinguishing material for possible flare-ups, so emptying everything you have goes against that guidance.
Remember it
Hood down, water away, and keep a little extinguisher left for a flare-up.