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"The fire also appears to end any debate about whether a large portion of the body would be made from aluminum or steel. The forgotten blobs of melted aluminum left on the side of the road are easy to see. The only major recognizable parts of the truck that remained were the frame and engine block."
While a blaze that bad never happened to me, I did have fires on test vehicles. They were small and I was able to put them out without much damage.
Test vehicles have many temperature, flow, and pressure sensors installed. These will be in fuel, coolant, and oil lines. A failed test sensor can spray hot, flammable fluid throughout the engine compartment. This has nothing to do with a production vehicle, it is a hazard of modifying a vehicle to be able to measure what engineers need to know to develop the product.
I would not be at all concerned about a fire on a test vehicle. That doesn't mean the production vehicles are susceptible to fires.
Screw the fire extinguisher. I'd carry hotdogs, marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars. Plus plenty of beverages of course. Enough fire there to eat good for half the day.
Honestly I think GM got ahold of that truck. You know how the GMs like to catch fire.
They probably did. But my guess is most people had the "oh well" mentality once it got going.
Most fire extinguishers are enough to handle a small fire, not a car fire, and most car fires are under the hood and undiscovered until its well past extinguishing with out Fire Dept assistance.
When the eye witness states it took less then 3 minutes for the fire to go from this:
to this:
And only 21 minutes to devolve from Purr:
To Poof:
Note the fire extinguisher in the picture. Unscathed, like the vehicle occupants, one of whom probably had it in hand as he escaped, and then tossed it on the pile of powder to be hauled away. If the extinguisher were still good and not expended, it probably would have been kept, if by no one else than a passerby or the tow truck driver (or in this case the road clean up crew, as there was no vehicle remaining to "tow").
Originally Posted by A/Ox4
They probably did. But my guess is most people had the "oh well" mentality once it got going.
Most fire extinguishers are enough to handle a small fire, not a car fire, and most car fires are under the hood and undiscovered until its well past extinguishing with out Fire Dept assistance.
"oh well"? more like "oh HELL!" Imagine the heat emanating from that fire! Without a fire suit, it would be difficult to get near it. And while that extinguisher, which was clearly there, and clearly in the hands of someone, not in the vehicle itself, may have been expended... it would be likely have the same efficacy as a toy squirt gun.
If you haven't seen all the pics (clearly some haven't, else there wouldn't be any question about the fire extinguisher), google Chris Doane LLC, the automotive paparazzi that shot them. Probably the most terrific spy shot vehicle fire photos ever taken to date.
08-04-2014, 01:23 PM
