In fires involving passenger areas, what metal may be present requiring caution?

• A. Aluminum
• B. Magnesium
• C. Titanium
• D. Steel

Answer: (B)

Magnesium is the metal to be cautious about in passenger-area fires. It’s used in some aircraft and other passenger-vehicle components because it’s lightweight and strong, so you can find it in interior alloys and structural parts. The hazard is the fire behavior: magnesium ignites easily and burns at an extremely high temperature with a bright, intense flame. It also reacts violently with water and many common extinguishing agents, producing hydrogen gas that can feed an explosion and splatter molten metal. Because of this, you don’t extinguish a magnesium fire with water or standard foam or CO2 methods. Use a dry chemical or a specialized metal-fire extinguishing agent (Class D) to smother and contain the fire, and keep cooling with dry application to prevent reignition.