The Flaming Van

BendrBendr Registered Users Posts: 665 Major grins
edited July 26, 2008 in Journeys
Hi folks,

Here is my adventure from last night.

I'm driving along, on my way home from work, and the next thing I know, I see a van parked off the side of the freeway with fire burning underneath it, with a man next to it waving his arms for help. I decide to pull over and do what I can to help.

After I get out of my car, I realize that the engine is on fire, and dripping burning oil. There is not much I can do at this point, So while the man is talking to his wife I call 911. We continue to watch, hoping that the fire dept. arrives before it burns much more.

The flames begin spreading through the engine compartment, causing more, and larger flames, at this point I decide that I'd better pull out my camera and take some pictures.

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The flames began to burn the passenger compartment where the owners posessions were stored, and started licking the trees to the side of the road. As we watched the embankment began to burn, Yet there was still no fire engine in sight.

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At this point we were starting to become very worried, and the seconds began to feel longer, and longer as they slowly ticked by...

Finally a truck pulled up, and while it wasn't a fire engine at least it was from the fire dept.

A few minutes later, a full assortment of fire engines pulled up, and they immediately got right to work on fighting the fire.


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Within minutes they had the embankment put out, leaving only the car burning, and a few minutes later, they had that out too.

Thankfully, no one was injurred, and all were able to walk away from the scene without incident.


Thanks,
Ben

Comments

  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2008
    Good photos.....thumb.gif reminds me of my SAAB going up in flames
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • jzieglerjziegler Registered Users Posts: 420 Major grins
    edited July 14, 2008
    Wow, that must have been scary to see. Great photos, good for you for helping out.
  • BendrBendr Registered Users Posts: 665 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2008
    Art Scott wrote:
    Good photos.....thumb.gif reminds me of my SAAB going up in flames
    thanks! It's not fun is it?
  • BendrBendr Registered Users Posts: 665 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2008
    jziegler wrote:
    Wow, that must have been scary to see. Great photos, good for you for helping out.

    I don't know if I would call it scary, I wasn't the one whose car was burning, but there were a few times where I was taking a few steps back, and moving my car a few inches further away... :)

    One thing did happen that was kind of funny, and unique, while we were waiting, a car slowed down and stopped in the road right next to us, we helped push it off to the side, but it turned out that they had run out of gas...mwink.gif
  • coldclimbcoldclimb Registered Users Posts: 1,169 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2008
    Nice shots! I always wish I could bring my camera to fires instead of tools. Be careful though, I've seen one video of an incident where a strut from something on the hood blew out, shot thirty feet, bounced off a building, and went another twenty feet to stick through a guy's leg. And stay away from the tires!
    John Borland
    www.morffed.com
  • BendrBendr Registered Users Posts: 665 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2008
    coldclimb wrote:
    Nice shots! I always wish I could bring my camera to fires instead of tools. Be careful though, I've seen one video of an incident where a strut from something on the hood blew out, shot thirty feet, bounced off a building, and went another twenty feet to stick through a guy's leg. And stay away from the tires!

    Wow... That would be freaky and scary...

    And I definitely heard the tires, it made me glad I was standing back, in addition, it convinced me to move my car back as much as I could(Only a foot or two more) But it bought the fire engines just enough room I think...

    Thanks!

    Ben
  • fire1035fire1035 Registered Users Posts: 208 Major grins
    edited July 21, 2008
    Tires won't hurt you, they're just loud. However bumper shocks and the aformentioned struts that hold up newer hoods, and hatchbacks will.
  • swintonphotoswintonphoto Registered Users Posts: 1,664 Major grins
    edited July 26, 2008
    Yikes. I was in a car that caught fire like that a few years ago. Pretty scary. Your first shot looks almost creepy - like a burning skull.
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