A bit of excitement on Sunday morning (Pic heavy)

EMD_Driver · 11-24-2016, 06:51 PM

We were awakened around 3:45 Sunday morning, by my mom screaming. I honestly thought she had fallen and broken something badly. I ran downstairs and she was pointing towards the front of our camper. There was a bright orange glow and I thought one of our neighbor's camper was on fire. I opened our door and saw that it was our TV on fire. I came back in, grabbed my phone and went back out. While talking to the dispatcher, I grabbed the hose, that I keep hooked to our neighboring site's spigot and started attacking the fire. The cans of brake cleaner, slide lube, wd40 and what not were exploding. The noise woke several of our neighbors up and they brought their fire extinguishers.

Between the extinguishers and the hose, we managed to get the fire out before the first fire engine arrived. It turned out, that the fire originated underneath the toolbox, in the bed of the truck. I had twin electric air compressors and an air tank mounted under the toolbox. The only thing I can think of, is that one of the many feral cats around here climbed under the toolbox and possibly chewed one of the wires. It was much cooler than usual that night and that was a cozy little area that they have been in before. As of right now, I'm still waiting on the insurance company to inspect the damage and either give me an estimate, or total it.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt! The fire did change our plans to hitch up the camper and head to New Orleans next week. I guess it wasn't meant to be! I took several pictures and will let them speak for themselves...

What's left of our leveling blocks...

The remains of our generator... It was full of fuel and the fuel vapor pressure pushed the cap gasket out of the way, so the gas could boil-off. Thankfully, it did boil-off and didn't explode!

The remains of Kitty's toolbox. Aluminum melts at 1,650*F and there's not much left of the box itself.

The truck was parked in front of the camper and the only damage to the camper, is some greasy soot splatter. However, with the tremendous amount of heat that was generated, I'm not willing to trust the hitch anymore. I'm including the hitch in the insurance claim. Most of the time, I don't keep the truck packed with the generator and camping gear. I did this time, because of hurricane season. We had to evacuate for hurricane Matthew and I wanted to wait until I was sure nothing else was coming.

God kept us safe and we are very thankful for that!

apackoftwo · 11-24-2016, 08:40 PM

Wow! How scary. I am so sorry. So glad no one was hurt!

**JohnB** · 11-24-2016, 09:28 PM

Gary,

Oh my goodness...

The good Lord was looking out for you and helping you. So glad no one was hurt with this and your camper in still OK.

The truck looks in real rough shape. It would be a shock if they did not total it.

Was the fuel tank on the truck damaged?

Again, so glad you are OK.

Take care

John

Wannabes · 11-25-2016, 08:02 AM

Gary,

Thank God no one was hurt and that your fiver didn't catch fire. That kind of excitement we can all do without!

Blessings,

mainah · 11-25-2016, 08:09 AM

Looks more to me that it started in the tool box any thing in there battery powered? I would think the truck is a total good thing is was not attached to the camper.

Jim-Bev-2363 · 11-25-2016, 08:32 AM

Every cloud has a silver lining. We can see yours. Nobody was hurt so you were blessed.

I'd make sure everything rubber is replaced and the best way to do that is with another truck. Sorry you are having to go through this.

EMD_Driver · 11-25-2016, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

Gary,

Was the fuel tank on the truck damaged?

Again, so glad you are OK.

Take care

John

John,

The fuel tank is plastic and directly under the seat of the fire. The tank is 3/4 full and there is no fuel spilled at all. There's no way to inspect the top of the tank, so I don't know if there's damage. Along with the fuel tank, the DEF tank also lives in that area. The fill hoses for both the fuel tank and the DEF tank were severely damaged.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabes

Gary,

Thank God no one was hurt and that your fiver didn't catch fire. That kind of excitement we can all do without!

Blessings,

I could definitely have done without this excitement, but thankful that nobody was hurt!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mainah

Looks more to me that it started in the tool box any thing in there battery powered? I would think the truck is a total good thing is was not attached to the camper.

There was a Dewalt cordless drill in the toolbox, but the truck hadn't been moved for the 36 hours prior to the fire..

**JohnB** · 11-25-2016, 09:07 AM

Gary,

Plastic fuel tank, I know the gasoline tanks are plastic, didn't know if they changed anything for the diesel. It's a small miracle that tank did not get caught up in this. For sure that tank may be affected if they do not total the truck.

The generator fuel tank also is a small miracle it did not go up. That reminded me of a long ago event. On the farm one time, I was running my old caterpillar crawler discing in the peach orchard. It was real hot that day and the gas tank is right over top of the engine. They made them like that years ago. This was like a 1930 crank start job. I got off to go pick up a big rock out of the way and when I came back to the crawler, I heard this strange gurgling. I shut the engine off and then heard it louder. Oh my, the darn gas tank is boiling.... I left it alone right then and there... ran away and came back a few hours later. It just cooled down and nothing happened. Amazing...

John

EMD_Driver · 11-25-2016, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

The generator fuel tank also is a small miracle it did not go up.

It definitely tried.. Fortunately, the design of the fuel cap was the difference. The tank itself was full and the fire heated the fuel to boiling. The vapor pressure pushed the gasket out of the way and allowed the fuel to burn at a controlled rate, instead of all at once. Notice the gasket in the pic below:

The blue and white things are towels. I was using them to protect the generator cover. I had cinder blocks on top of them. It kept the cover from blowing away, while driving.

**JohnB** · 11-25-2016, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EMD_Driver

It definitely tried.. Fortunately, the design of the fuel cap was the difference. The tank itself was full and the fire heated the fuel to boiling. The vapor pressure pushed the gasket out of the way and allowed the fuel to burn at a controlled rate, instead of all at once. Notice the gasket in the pic below:

Amazing.... I wonder if the manufacture even knew that feature existed. Or I wonder if it is a new safety code? Boy I would not want to be in the test lab making sure it worked...

vcrt · 11-28-2016, 04:51 AM

Sorry for this unfortunate incident, but glad it was confined and wasn't any worse as it could have been. Hopefully, insurance will cover it all.
Rich

Gene · 11-28-2016, 07:23 PM

Gary,
So sad to see all the damage but happy to hear you are ok. Thanks for keeping us informed.

Gene

Poppy & Nana · 12-01-2016, 04:29 AM

Sorry to hear of your loss! Thank the good Lord Mom was a light sleeper.

Trailblazer · 02-26-2017, 11:40 AM

OMG!!! Wow Gary!!! Glad no one was hurt!

mainah · 03-03-2017, 08:44 AM

I know it's been awhile but was that generator one of the China built ones?