Hello all!

Driving home on the highway, i saw an old VW Beetle on the side of the rode engulffed in flames - No other cars involved, it seems that it simply caught alight and the driver steered to the side of the rode to let it burn out.

There were several bystanders pulled over to try assist/get in the way. emergency services had not yet arrived as it was on the highway between 2 small towns many miles away.

These bystanders had parked their cars (if i take an educated guess) 5 meters from the burning beetle.

My Questions:
What is the possibility and probability of cars exploding once on fire (fuel tank?), and what is a safe distance away from vehicle (ie. to administer first aid to casulties). Emergency services would take a LONG time to reach this specific car...

I have seen very similar situations where people stand around a burning car and have often wondered the same. Perhaps one of the forum's many professional emergency workers will fill us in.

I've heard of tanks rupturing and flaring up (not to be confused with exploding), but as far as I understand, explosions like in the movies just do not happen, or rather, are extremely rare and require the conditions to be perfect; i.e. an outside fire burns hot enough and long enough near a sealed fuel tank to cause a BLEVE. I don't know if there are relief valves to prevent this from occuring

I'm not an expert or anything, so take it with a grain of salt... or a handful <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Way to much Hollyweird.

Now if you have a rupture tank. The spilled fuel evaporates enough to for a cloud. Then you get an ignition. You will have a pretty hefty WHUMP and a respectable fireball.

But if it is already burning you don't get the mixture for an explosion. You might get a flare up but not much more. Gas tanks have vents to prevent a pressure build up. Aslso the fuel ines ill vent some pressure.

Now that is not to say you should cozy up to a burning car. If the fuel tank is not already burning if it does light the flare up can spread burning fuel faster than you can get away.

The danger of an explosion would be more likely from something stored in a vehicle. A propane torch or a propane tank for a grill could give you a big surprise. You don't know what else is in the car.

If you can't help Why stand around. Get on with your own business. Let those with the needed skills and equipment deal with it.

OTOH if you can help get others away from the fire and keep it from spreading. Ifyou have gear such as an extinguisher realize its limitations. If the fire is small you might be able to put it out. If it is fully involved and a total loss anyway why waste you gear. The only thing you can do then is to keep it from spreading.

In general it's not a good idea to stand around on the hard shoulder of a motorway. Or even to sit in a car parked on the hard shoulder. Something like 10% of UK motorway fatalities happen like that.

I think other cars are more likely to vear onto the hard shoulder if there is a car parked there, or some other feature to attact interest. It acts like a magnet or something.

There is an article on Hybrid Vehicle Rescue, not VW's, that I posted on 5/4/04, that has some good responses about what to do with a vehicle fire. I found them very interesting reading. You might want to read the thread just as a reference to vehicle fires in general.

Many cars have shock-absorbers in the bumpers that are liable to pop the bumpers off in a fire. Likewise for rear window pneumatic / hydraulic arms on station wagons, hatchbacks, etc. Avoiding the front and rear of a vehicle is probably a good idea. Also many vehicles have fuel flow shutoffs that activate in an accident.

I'm a firefighter.

Avoid the front and rear of the car. The gas tanks, when ruptured, may flow an amount of gas that will make a dramatic fireball as it ignites, that may be confused by some to be an explosion. The shock absorbers and airbag systems will explode, throwing off the bumbers. Tires may explode with some force. An actual large-scale explosion is basically not going to happen excepting a few rare cases related to sudden pressurization and ignition of fumes in the tank - for example, rear-ending a vehicle that is already on fire can cause a sharp jump in tank pressure, coupled with a rupture, that can make quite a fire.

That's all I can tell you on the subject.

For the most part, there's no saving a fully involved vehicle. Stay back, let it burn, keep the surrounding area from going up.

My VW Rabbit caught fire late one night in the alley. It was really exciting when the aluminum-magnesium alloy transmission case caught on fire! The firemen started spraying the garage instead of the car at that point. There were puddles of aluminum engine block on the ground after the tow-truck carried it away.

A little morbid curiosity here.

You come upon a fully fire involved car with a conscious driver trapped inside and no way to extricate him. You have a firearm. Would you put the driver out of his misery?

From a personal moral belief, normally I would, but the laws being what they are, from a practical standpoint, I would have to let the unfortunate victim scream to death.

The only merciful alternative would be to try and shoot the restraining piece of wreckage in order to free the individual, accidentally miss and hit him in the head. Juries might understand such an accidental shot.

Bountyhunter