PA-28 pilot reported an engine fire occurred while starting the engine in cold weather.

Narrative:

I was planning on taking my mother and brother to fly the new york hudson sfra. I had just completed the preflight checklist and before engine start checklist. This airplane is usually very difficult to start in the cold weather; and at the time of starting it was negative 5 degrees celsius. I used cold starting procedures; primed it six times; which has worked for me before in this particular plane; and cranked the engine. After ten seconds of it not starting; I stopped cranking; and waited 20 seconds. I tried starting it again. Still no success. The third time; I thought perhaps it was flooded; so I used the flooded start checklist. I cranked and started smelling smoke and could see it clearly from the front of the left engine cowling. I initiated my emergency training; ensured the mixture was at idle cutoff; continued cranking the engine to suck out the fire; turned off the electrical equipment; and the fuel selector. I retrieved a fire extinguisher and put out the fire myself. I then called [airport] services.it is possible it could have been a result of over priming the engine. However I know other pilots who use similar methods during extremely cold weather; especially if the airplane as been sitting a long time; which ours was.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA-28 Pilot reported an engine fire occurred while starting the engine in cold weather.

Narrative: I was planning on taking my mother and brother to fly the New York Hudson SFRA. I had just completed the preflight checklist and before engine start checklist. This airplane is usually very difficult to start in the cold weather; and at the time of starting it was negative 5 degrees Celsius. I used cold starting procedures; primed it six times; which has worked for me before in this particular plane; and cranked the engine. After ten seconds of it not starting; I stopped cranking; and waited 20 seconds. I tried starting it again. Still no success. The third time; I thought perhaps it was flooded; so I used the flooded start checklist. I cranked and started smelling smoke and could see it clearly from the front of the left engine cowling. I initiated my emergency training; ensured the mixture was at idle cutoff; continued cranking the engine to suck out the fire; turned off the electrical equipment; and the fuel selector. I retrieved a fire extinguisher and put out the fire myself. I then called [airport] services.It is possible it could have been a result of over priming the engine. However I know other pilots who use similar methods during extremely cold weather; especially if the airplane as been sitting a long time; which ours was.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1711566
Time
Date	201912
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine Starting System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 127 Flight Crew Total 418 Flight Crew Type 378
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown