Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Diesel pusher motorhome goes up in flames
The driver of this fully engulfed diesel pusher motorhome began shooting the video five minutes after his rig caught fire. As you can see, the puny fire truck that showed up to fight the blaze was useless in saving the RV. This is yet another reminder of why RVers should carry more than one quality fire extinguisher.
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Does anyone know how this caught fire? What make of diesel pusher? If the fire truck couldn't put it out what hope would the RV owner have of doing it.
ReplyDelete1/2 Owner of a 2000 Country Coach Allure, 40'
Does anyone compile information on these incidents after the fact to determine if there are trends - either with a particular type of RV or engine or ? In other words is there evidence that more/fewer incidents of fire occur with diesel pushers, gas powered, class As, class Cs, motorhomes towiing, etc? I would imagine insurance companies compile the information but sharing it is another story.
ReplyDeleteThat RV was already lost by the time the firefighters got any water on it. There was no hope of saving anything, other than the grass along the road.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know what sparked the fire in the first place.
And a compilation of fire incidents like this must be available somewhere, so consumers can be aware of any trends before incidents like this turn fatal.
The view makes the rig look like it might be an older unit. It also appears to be in a rural area, because the fire rig is a small type 6 unit. I wouldn't be to concerned that this fire might indicate a trend in Class A Rigs.
ReplyDelete2 or 20 hand held fire extinguishers wouldn't have made a difference. This could be a tire or brake problem. I would bet the incident report by the fire department will say "undetermined origin". The insurance company will probably ask a bunch of qustions and pay the claim to close the cae. Probably underinsured too!
We had a 1996 Monaco Dynasty that we lost in 2004 to fire. It was a
ReplyDeletebroken fuel line as best we can tell. Lost the motorhome and tow car. Since the MH was made of fiberglass, the only thing that could put the fire out would have been a foam truck - water doesn't do the job according to the fire dept. Since then we recommend all our RVer friends carry a fire proof box with your valuables close to the door so you can at least grab that on your way out the door. Don't try to go back in as my husband did. He's more important than anything inside the coach.
As another person stated, water won't do it for this type of fire. They needed foam, or preferably a surfactant based solution.
ReplyDeleteIf you look closely, you can see that this is a foam based fire suppresent. Based on known materials used in the construction and furnishing of motor homes, there was little the fire department could do to save this rig. It would be wise to consider fire extinguishers in your RV to attack the initial fire but contact the fire department at the same time. All too often an overconfident owner feels that he or she can control the fire and fail to call for help early enough to be of any value. Trust me, I know. I am one of those firefighters.
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