If your vehicle catches fire and has placarded hazmat cargo, what should you do?

A fire on a placarded hazmat vehicle is an extreme emergency. If the fire is very small and not near the cargo, the driver may attempt to fight it briefly with the onboard extinguisher (B:C or A:B:C-rated, which is required equipment). But if the fire is growing, near the cargo, or you are unsure of the cargo's compatibility with your extinguisher, get away. Pull off the road in an open area away from people and structures, leave the engine off, get yourself and any bystanders at least several hundred feet away (much farther for explosives), stay upwind and uphill, call 911 and the emergency response number on the shipping papers, and provide responders with the shipping papers as they arrive. Some cargoes (explosives, certain reactive materials) require evacuation distances of a half mile or more.