Fire on the road
your truck or another truck on the road doesnt matter. One of the many serious troubles on a long haul trucking is fire…it starts suddenly and your labour turn to some ashes in a couple minutes… somebody loses their lives…
I believe many of drivers here know some fire stories about past. would you share it?
also you must have some pictures 
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I was following an Elddis Transport motor South on the A1M one morning and noticed smoke coming from a rear axle wheel on the trailer, guessing the brakes had stuck on and the driver seemed unaware I eventually got along side to let him know, we both pulled into the hard shoulder where by now flames from the tyres were licking up the side of the trailer curtains, by the time we unhooked the unit to pull it forward the fire had really got a hold and he said he had rolls of paper inside so by the time the Fire Service arrived which was quite quickly the rear end of the trailer was an inferno. I left the scene then to allow the rescue services more room but heard later it had mostly burned out. This had happened very quickly and I would imagine if I had not alerted the driver he may possibly have lost his unit along with the trailer. I recall also seeing a fibreglass cabbed Foden sitting on the hard shoulder with no cab above the top of the door handles it had all burned away, probably from an electrical dash fire, the speed at which fire can develop on a vehicle is quite alarming. Franky.
when I was learning to drive the auld boy that was sitting along side me told me about when he was driving an old AEC 8 wheeler(early 60s) loaded with petrol on the old A66 at the scotch corner end (he was a Darlington lad)when he was flagged down as a wheel bearing was smoking,well George said he stopped asap 
and before he got to the back it flared up on fire I asked him what steps did ye take ,he said bloody big ones as everyone who stopped scarpered as well . George said he jumped over a drystain dyke and landed about 8ft down in a muddy stream and he ran along the burn till he got a leg up onto the road . By luck the fire went out and the traffic stared moving so George said he squelched back to the motor and dragged it to a layby got a lift tae a phonebox jacked the job and started wae RAH the next day,never hauled fuel again .
I was climbing Windy Hill on the M62 eastbound one morning and it was quite foggy. An artic was in front of me and I started to think that there was something strange about the fog, it was swirling about with darker clouds in it. I was gaining on the artic so pulled out into the middle lane to overtake and the swirling fog was explained, the back of his cab was on fire and the driver suddenly realised all was not well and made for the hard shoulder. The lorry on fire was an ERF A Series belonging to the haulier from Leeds (name escapes me now) that did lots of work for Tetley’s Brewery.
When I was a nipper, I was out with dad in his O type Bedford, we were following another O type, a flat well-loaded with baled waste paper. He took a left-hander too fast and it went over. Almost immediately the flames started, probably because the petrol tank was on the right-hand side. Father and another driver got the driver out. By the time the fire brigade arrived it was nearly all gone. Exciting for a youngster, too exciting in fact, I had nightmares for weeks involving dad and his lorry on fire.
Bernard
M1 Cathorpe
I drove north to Gloucester on the A38 pre m5 motorway and a temporary roundabout had been built with old railway sleepers in the dip between two hills at Whitminster. This is the site of the roundabout for M5 junction13 today. On the way back the fog had come down and just before this roundabout was a massive fire. Driving both ways it was the usual thing to give it stick downhill to get up the next hill. A fuel tanker from Avonmouth must have done this in the fog and was unable to make the bend an gone over. The fuel was on fire well away from the lorry and it was impossible to get near it The poor driver died in his cab
Even pre tacho they knew what time the tanker left the terminal and the time of the accident so could work out what sort of speed he had been doing.
A driver from another firm at my depot came across an accident with the lorry on fire and the driver was trapped in the cab and could not be got out. It was obvious that he was going to be burned to death and at the last moment some brave soul hit him over the head with a jack handle to render him unconsious and end his pain. The driver that saw it was so shocked he could not carry on and someone had to go out and fetch him and take another driver for the lorry.
I drove north to Gloucester on the A38 pre m5 motorway and a temporary roundabout had been built with old railway sleepers in the dip between two hills at Whitminster. This is the site of the roundabout for M5 junction13 today. On the way back the fog had come down and just before this roundabout was a massive fire. Driving both ways it was the usual thing to give it stick downhill to get up the next hill. A fuel tanker from Avonmouth must have done this in the fog and was unable to make the bend an gone over. The fuel was on fire well away from the lorry and it was impossible to get near it The poor driver died in his cab
Even pre tacho they knew what time the tanker left the terminal and the time of the accident so could work out what sort of speed he had been doing.
A driver from another firm at my depot came across an accident with the lorry on fire and the driver was trapped in the cab and could not be got out. It was obvious that he was going to be burned to death and at the last moment some brave soul hit him over the head with a jack handle to render him unconsious and end his pain. The driver that saw it was so shocked he could not carry on and someone had to go out and fetch him and take another driver for the lorry.
heres mine…20 odd years ago bought a 143,3 weeks later i fill both tanks at crooklands and head for glasgow,on the wire at about 70 ish heading up the m74 at stonehouse the prop snapped behind the box,dug into the road,spun round like the tazmanian devil,ripped out the wiring loom and ruptured both diesel tanks,the air tanks exploded at th same time and fired 80 yeards into a field like a depthcharge from a destroyer,when i stopped,the diesel lit dripping from the link pipe…the unit had side skirts so i couldnt really get under it much,a guy stoped and gave me his fire extinguisher,as soon as it emptied,the fire lit again…a tanker driver stopped,and gave me a mega one.as soon as it was empty,it lit again…by now im soaking in a river of diesel thats on fire and running down the gutter into the drain on the hard shoulder…i go to the phone and the nugget that answers asks me where im calling from and its like a murder enquiry deciding where i am…by this time,the back wheels of the unit have lit,and the flames are now right up to the curtainsider which also lights.ive got on 26 pallets of cheapo lemonade that starts melting and exploding.i now fling all my kit out of the door onto the grass and the trucks lit from the back of the cab to 15 foot down the trailer…nothing to do but wait for the mee maws to arrive…3 mins later as its blazing away rightly,i remember ive a £1000 cash taped under the sliding centre cubby tray in the middle of the floor…one good argument with trumpton who have now arrived,and i shove him out of my way and retrieve the wonga…by this time im flavour of the month with the commuters on a friday at 8.a.m with the motorway closed till the overkill bollox kicks in and they make a complete meal of it.the insurance paid out,they wouldnt cover the trailer rental,but they paid for the truck and trailer.i sold the truck damaged and did a deal with the insurance,and i eventually covered my backside with the debt,took a severe kick in the plums,and there you go.i had a job running fish out and fruit back on the mon morn wired to the moon,and life goes on.
this is the only pic of it copied from youtube before i owned it…i had just bought a pair of eminox stacks that i was going to fit the next day…poor me.
robert1952:
This appeared in a 1998 issue of T&D but the actual incident happened in early 1996. Robert0
I blame the driver! 
I have a flaming tail involving a F7 6wheeler tipper.
It was 20years old by the time I got my hands on it, but as a rookie 22year old, it was the best I could get.
It was Friday. I was empty and on my way home. In the distance I could see an old AEC logging motor plodding away in front of me. I inevitably caught up to it. Was we started to decend a hill and it picked up speed as I did too. Then the acrid steel came. I thought it was going so fast that the tires started to cook. Until l saw a flame coming out of the glove box of my own motor. I pulled over opposite a house and I knocked on the door. " Do you have a fire extinguisher or a bag of sand" I inquired. “Why?” Was the reply. “Cos my lorry is on fire” said I. They didn’t have either but phoned the fire brigade. Meanwhile I scooped up a load of mud and dumped it on the flames. Much to my surprise the fire when out. I thought that was the end of my beloved motor. But no, they rebuild it and I was back in the old clunker two weeks later.
Friday March the 8th 2002.
The memorable day for me , i was in my 36 th year of driving like thousands of men the same age as i was ,i might have had a more varied "Car-eer " than a lot of men and companies i worked for but that was just me, i was one who always thought the grass was always greener,sometimes it was, at the present time i am writing about i was very happy at W.H. BOWKERS, BAMBER BRIDGE, driving a “38 volvo road train” fully freighted with kitchen boilers from near Trento ITALY it was a good regular job…as was all their work,
AFTER Having had a 45 minutes break on the M6 services north of WOLVERHAMPTON " HILTON PARK" on the last leg home for 2 days off, traffic Friday afternoon 1pm-ish was stop,start,all the cars would rush away and then you would catch them all up again,you sort of got to know what was in their rear windows,this goes on ,and we are off, moving again just past the Stafford turn of j14 past the slip road on I think i must have been doing 30 mph the traffic was slowing again break lights all on all cars 3 lanes but the momentum was,we were all moving, no break lights,probably thinking about changing gear, then out of “nowhere” i get this god almighty sence of i am being “lifted” out of my seat and being held back by my seat belt at the same time ,just as the red break lights come on the cars in front and they are suddenly getting closer,my foot is automatically pressing the break pedal through the floor i am trying to steer into the slow hard shoulder,[the old adage pump the break peddle] yehh no chance… i am going to pile into the cars in front , i am still moving forward , i am very close collision point when from nowhere there break lighst go out and like slow motion they pull away from me i am still fighting to get on the hard shoulder ,i remember looking in my offside mirror and cannot see anything -"no traffic"at all going past me.
I have come to a stop still in the slow lane quite straight ,seat belt of,f flung the door open and ran back to see what had happened ,the site that greeted me was nearly beyond comprehension ,
A Scania unit pulling a tipper trailer full of ■■■■ seed had whacked my rear trailer right on the offside corner,the corner was obliterated .i looked up and the driver was still in his cab and smoke was starting to bellow out from the rear of the unit[there was no one else with me or there]i ran back to my cab grabbed my little fire extinguisher inside the door .ran back to the rolled truck [the unit was still upright][ with the drive wheels at a hard right hand lock position as if he had been trying to steer away from me ] "still no one else there "
I crouched under the front of the unit to ty to put the flames out but the extinguisher flames and smoke were stating to rise ,i emptied the extinguisher but no good, so i threw it on the floor, and ran to get the drivers door open as he was still in the cab not moving, as the wheel was in the right hand position i stood on the tyre and the door was jammed ,i banged on the window the driver just looked at me ,at that moment i heard a voice saying , you want help, i said find a bar or metal to smash this window [like a prat i had threw the extinguisher away ] i was still yanking on the door but it would not budge and the smoke was just starting to curl over the cab,the chap had got a bit of metal ,he threw it to me i banged the drivers window ,he looked,and he could see what i was going to do ,and i did,two whacks the window was out, the cab was filling with smoke, i grabbed the drivers arm/shoulder and started pulling him up and out,he was assisting but it meant he was coming out upside down ,the other chap could see what was happening he was nearly out i had all his weight,un till the other bloke got his head and shoulder,and then we both sort of fell ,me off the tyre that i was still standing on the driver hit the deck and crumpled up ,we just grabbed him and ran we and all three just got clear,“seconds,” of the tyre when they both blew the whole lot was completely en engulfed in flames, just as we got in on the hard shoulder the fire men arrived and police a ,no other person came to the front where we were.the driver was o k,i had a ■■■. the whole motorway was stopped we got interviewed by a police officer what i did not know he was the Staffordshire superintendent they all has base ball caps on ,i dropped the rear end on the motorway where it stood and they let me go and that was that, or so thought ,I HAD DELAYED SHOCK about 2 months later in the form of a T.I.A.[MEDICIAL GOOGLE IT] AND FROM THAT DAY ONWARD MY DRIVING CAREER WAS OVER JUST LIKE THAT…you can have a TIA and not know it like me,it was blood vessels at the back of my eyes, i wore glasses and i thought they wanted renewing ,had a eye test within 1 hour at my doctors ,sent “from the optician” that was me finished he notified SWANSEA NO HGV, i had hospitial tests,medicial walking tests on a walking machine ,i had the oppertunity to go to court my doctor told me i would never win ,you can have a brain hemmorage ,survive and get your lience back but a TIAis the unknown that that was 2002 …just to add that myself and ther other chap who helped in the rescue we both recived from the “fire service and the police “gallenrty awards” at a ward cermoney in stafford town hall with the great and good , i never went to collect mine they sent them ,to much fuss…just a rider, the driver never said 2thank you” lol so if you read this your welcome
peggydeckboy…
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