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I've also put out an engine fire I passed by with a blanket (late 80's ish 5.0 T-bird), fellas whole ignition system, plug wires and distributor were burning. Never understood that one.
That is a super-common fire in that era Ford.
There is a metal fuel line that runs up to within a few inches of the screw-in fuel filter at the carb inlet. The distance between the end of the metal line and the fuel filter is taken up with a very short length of rubber fuel line. The rubber length fails because it never gets replaced, or gets replaced but the metal line not realigned (which leaves stress on the rubber line so it fails prematurely). All of this is immediately adjacent to the distributor cap which just so happens to have a bunch of high voltage sparks jumping around inside. The spark plug wires and cap are the first and most dramatic items to burn, as that is where the gas has sprayed.
Back in the day, I did fire reconstructions at an automotive electric shop. Fords and VWs were the bulk of the work.
As for the OP's question, I keep a run-of-the-mill ABC fire extinguisher between the front passenger seat and trans tunnel in my convertible. I've seen too many burnt cars not to have one right at hand (literally). No time lost digging for the trunk key, and readily available to me or anyone else who needs one and can see it right there in plain sight.
Down to just a blue car now.
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