Community Forums

okmunky · 01-31-2018, 06:53 PM

Pete,

What caused the fire in your RV?

Bigd9 · 01-31-2018, 07:07 PM

The fire started in the area where the Dometic Refrigerator was located. The Fire Marshal put the cause down as "electrical".

Here are a few pictures. less than 13 minutes between the time I saw the smoke to the fully engulfed coach.

Electra 225 · 01-31-2018, 07:20 PM

Yup that's the one. I guess the shed is a bit closer than I remember. But I recall (after) pics where the siding was gone. Darn lucky it didn't burn it down too.

I also recall you just finished loading up and getting ready to depart?

God took care of you that day in respect to the fact it could've happened while underway or while you were asleep in the coach. Seems things can always be a whole lot worse when you think about it.

I hope everything worked out for you since.

Regards,
W.D.

okmunky · 01-31-2018, 07:30 PM

A friend and I drove from Quartzsite to Parker, AZ today. We watched a massive black plume of smoke for most of the drive.

Being nosy, we had to go find out was on fire. I thought it might be an RV, but it was actually a grass fire near the Colorado River. There must have been some old tires in that field because I could smell chemicals in the smoke from miles away. There were still visible flames when we got there, but the firefighters were just watching, not fighting it. No structures were nearby and the wind was calm.

Fire is scary regardless of where it is, but it's good when nobody gets hurt.

Sweetbriar · 01-31-2018, 08:21 PM

Coach fires are like an airplane crash scene, ugly. Adding additional fire extinguishers never hurts. Chances are might not be good that you can put the fire out but you might be able to beat back the flames for a few seconds to give you time to get out.

Concerning the propane tank, it actually can't explode as might be expected. Not enough oxygen in the tank to support combustion. What does happen is as the tank gets hot from the fire more and more propane boils out of the liquid state into a gas and the tank pressure increases. Get the pressure high enough and the safety valve opens you get the fire breathing dragon effect that a would make a Hollywood special effects person proud. Quite loud also. Here's an example - https://youtu.be/3zSjZVlnKHg. Fast forward to time 2:20 when it starts to let go.

NM.West · 01-31-2018, 10:48 PM

This turned into a nice discussion on the fire danger inherent with RVs. It truly is scary. Three things surprised me on the fire I witnessed: first was how rapidly that coach burned down - it was mere minutes; second was that there was no stopping the fire, even though the firefighters were hitting it with lots of water; and last was the effect of the propane (maybe a small tank for a campfire?) lighting off.

I also appreciate the thought of a “go bag.” There’s no way there would be time to get into a safe. If a fire starts, get out, and get out quickly!

BSHGTO · 02-01-2018, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetbriar

Coach fires are like an airplane crash scene, ugly. Adding additional fire extinguishers never hurts. Chances are might not be good that you can put the fire out but you might be able to beat back the flames for a few seconds to give you time to get out.

Concerning the propane tank, it actually can't explode as might be expected. Not enough oxygen in the tank to support combustion. What does happen is as the tank gets hot from the fire more and more propane boils out of the liquid state into a gas and the tank pressure increases. Get the pressure high enough and the safety valve opens you get the fire breathing dragon effect that a would make a Hollywood special effects person proud. Quite loud also. Here's an example - https://youtu.be/3zSjZVlnKHg. Fast forward to time 2:20 when it starts to let go.

I have the little fire extinguisher that came with the unit (on recall to boot). If that cant put out he grease fire on the stove we will be leaving out the door or window and grab the chairs, move back and watch it burn to the frame. ANY fire in a RV will linger forever no matter how good the clean up crew was. It would be like a unit that had been smoked in, death sentence. And I have a DP

Diesel Puller. Ford 6.0 time bomb.