Car Fire

[Ansley Rover]

Just thought I would share. No one was hurt. Thursday, I pulled up on this modern Range Rover and it was just smoking a little. But I could tell it was more than just steam. So I got out with a small fire extinguisher. The guy was there and got his dog out. But the hood wasn’t open and there was really nothing I could do without significant danger. It started smoking much more and much thicker very quickly. The flames started shooting out underneath and we backed away. It turned into this:

This picture doesn’t even do justice to the inferno it became. Here’s the aftermath:

It was shocking to me how quickly it accelerated. The cops took 10 minutes to arrive after I called 911 and the firetruck took another 5 minutes. Like the old saying goes: when seconds count, help is only minutes away. Another thing I learned, if you have smoke, get that hood open. By the time I got there, it wasn’t prudent to be searching for a release and messing with a hood latch.

 

[mitherial]

Yikes! Quite the afternoon—glad that everyone is safe. Any word on whether that was a regular gas RR or a hybrid? Battery chemical fires are about the only thing scarier than regular petroleum fires

 

[Ansley Rover]

I don’t know and am not familiar with the modern line. Here are some more pics of the aftermath. Maybe you can tell. Just looks like an engine to me. Though it was spewing colorful splotches of molten something.

 

[Ansley Rover]

I was surprised that the gas tank didn’t explode. Maybe I’ve seen too many movies. All the airbag devices blew off but nothing like what I would expect from 20 gallons of gasoline. Is there some safety device?

 

[rocky]

Dam.

 

[4RF RDS]

Thanks for sharing… As a paramedic for over 35 years I can say that I have never seen a car explode. You need vapour not liquid to explode. The evap system takes care of that and the liquid just burns. Modern cars burn uber fast! I keep a fire extinguisher beside the drivers seat in all my Land Rovers. Its for getting out and not for extinguishing a fire. there is a 5 lb ABC in the boot for extinguishing.

Also as an aside... never open a hood to extinguish an engine fire, pop it, lift it an inch or two and empty your extinguisher then close it again. Opening it is like in the old movie backdraft… you feed it oxygen and it becomes a huge ball of flames…

 

[SaintPanzer]

Also as an aside... never open a hood to extinguish an engine fire, pop it, lift it an inch or two and empty your extinguisher then close it again. Opening it is like in the old movie backdraft… you feed it oxygen and it becomes a huge ball of flames…

This. Exactly this.

 

[Giftshopduane]

That to me looks like a Discovery 5. This happened to my mother this fall in her 21' RR, she pulled into the gas station and it lit up, it was extinguished quickly. Thankfully she didn't pull into the garage at the house, she would have gone in and it wouldn't have been pretty. Insurance said it was a rag left in the engine bay from the last oil change, but I have my doubts.

 

[erover82]

Glad all were safe. That said, sometimes I wish my LR4 had that feature.

 

[RBBailey]

I've seen a few car fires that I got to watch for a while, one a semi-truck fully involved. The real surprising thing is when the tires blow up and fly 50-60 feet laterally across the freeway. Glad it was just a car!

 

[LRNAD90]

That to me looks like a Discovery 5.

Looks like a RRS to me, Discovery would have an offset tag, wouldn't it?

 

[Ansley Rover]

It was definitely a RR - I don't know about the variant.