Driver escapes fiery gas tanker after tire blowout in Chaiyaphum

 

Picture:  Daily News

 

There were long tailbacks last night on the Chaiyaphum bypass (Route 201) as firefighters fought a blazing tanker containing 37,000 liters of fuel. 

 

The Volvo truck - owned by the Chatchawan Truck and Oil company - was on its way from Saraburi to Loei when it experienced a rear tire blowout. 

 

Driver Thonglee, 53, said that it burst into flames. He tried but failed to tackle the blaze with an extinguisher before calling 191.

 

Picture:  Daily News

 

The road was closed for an hour as firemen doused the tanker in water and foam. 

 

Chaiyaphum police are investigating the incident that happened near the entrance to the Chutima housing estate. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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I thought on trucks like this wheels are always paired so a blowout has no effect on safety.  

I would not want to be in the same area as that with a burning tyre... good the driver had a go first, at least he didn't just leg it up the road to a safe distance.

Unlikely a single blown tyre on a paired wheel would have caused a fire, unless the driver did not notice it and kept on driving. More likely a seized brake overheating.

 

When his attempts at extinguishing the fire failed he should have unhitched and moved the tractor unit from the trailer. Luckily the whole lot did not go up. 

 

 

1 hour ago, anterian said:

I thought on trucks like this wheels are always paired so a blowout has no effect on safety.  

It doesn't. and a blowout doesn't go on fire like they said.

A tire can catch on fire if it goes flat /puncture. Only after the driver keeps on driving it will got hot and fire up, or the brakes are dragging and heating up everything.

Binding brake on the trailer .. heat build up transfers thru' to the wheel rim increasing the pressure in the tyre .. the heat generated can also be enough to burn the paint of all components in the brake area and above including the mudguard ( why plastic guards on trailers carrying flammable cargo are supposed to be fire retardant ) this in turn further increases the tyre pressure to the point where it will let go with a bang .. 

2 hours ago, anterian said:

I thought on trucks like this wheels are always paired so a blowout has no effect on safety.  

It was on fire, carrying fuel, the number of wheels on an axle are irrelevant in that context.

2 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Binding brake on the trailer .. heat build up transfers thru' to the wheel rim increasing the pressure in the tyre .. the heat generated can also be enough to burn the paint of all components in the brake area and above including the mudguard ( why plastic guards on trailers carrying flammable cargo are supposed to be fire retardant ) this in turn further increases the tyre pressure to the point where it will let go with a bang .. 

Excellent points. There were 12 wheels on the trailer, as you say possibly more than just a blow out to cause a fire. Lucky he wasn't carrying petroleum products.

27 minutes ago, Daffy D said:

When his attempts at extinguishing the fire failed he should have unhitched and moved the tractor unit from the trailer.

Why?  How would making the trailer immovable have helped?

36 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Excellent points. There were 12 wheels on the trailer, as you say possibly more than just a blow out to cause a fire. Lucky he wasn't carrying petroleum products.

I have recovered broken down trucks before I retired and it is a fairly common thing them catching fire .. and binding brakes one of the main causes and usually down to bad maintenance as trucks should be inspected on a regular basis and remedied as required particularly safety related components .. if the driver was switched on he should notice the smoke in his mirrors and the fact the truck is having to work harder to move .. 

One of the most notable example of this happened on the M4 a few yrs ago when the brake of the 2nd axle on a loaded tractor unit of a similar layout like the one below seized on .. the driver carried on , the heat built up to such a level the wheel bearings gave up and collapsed , with nothing then to centralise it this allowed the rotating mass of wheel and brake drum ( 200 kg approx ) to exert excessive pressure on the hub nut that retains the whole assembly to the stub axle which eventually twisted and sheared .. the only thing that prevented the wheel and drum coming right away was the truck had to stop in traffic smoking away and then had trouble pulling off before some one yelled at him that the wheel was about to come off .. 

 

51 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

Why?  How would making the trailer immovable have helped?

A blazing trailer isn't something you want to move anywhere, that would just fan the flames.

 

The point of unhitching the trailer was to save the tractor unit by moving it away from the burning trailer.

 

No need to loose he tractor unit as well as the trailer. 

6 minutes ago, Daffy D said:

A blazing trailer isn't something you want to move anywhere, that would just fan the flames.

 

The point of unhitching the trailer was to save the tractor unit by moving it away from the burning trailer.

 

No need to loose he tractor unit as well as the trailer. 

The tractor unit wasn't lost.

12 hours ago, Daffy D said:

A blazing trailer isn't something you want to move anywhere, that would just fan the flames.

 

The point of unhitching the trailer was to save the tractor unit by moving it away from the burning trailer.

 

No need to loose he tractor unit as well as the trailer. 

Better to lose the tractor unit than your life.

12 hours ago, Hi Tea said:

The tractor unit wasn't lost.

See my post #4

When his attempts at extinguishing the fire failed he should have unhitched and moved the tractor unit from the trailer. Luckily the whole lot did not go up. 

 

15 hours ago, anterian said:

I thought on trucks like this wheels are always paired so a blowout has no effect on safety.  

I have to disagree, if one tyre had gone flat and the driver hadn't noticed, the paired hot tyre would have more load, causing it to bellow out more and start to *kiss* the the flat one. Friction = Heat. just to repeat a story i once posted, wifey and I, were on a bus near the back, when i noticed a noise coming from underneath (Ex-mechanics ears still work) it took my wife 3 attempts to get the driver to stop by finally pulling his earphones off ! rear outside tyre was flat. All falangs on the bus thanked us for possibly preventing a fatal accident. i think the Thais were more annoyed by being woken up in the day. 

3 hours ago, Daffy D said:

See my post #4

When his attempts at extinguishing the fire failed he should have unhitched and moved the tractor unit from the trailer. Luckily the whole lot did not go up. 

 

That's the point, the whole lot did not go up, perhaps he, as someone actually at the scene, was aware of the limited danger posed to the tractor unit.  Perhaps his trying to restrict the area of the fire with the equipment that he had made more sense than stopping trying to fight the flames and allow them to spread while unhitching and moving the trailer.

5 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

That's the point, the whole lot did not go up, perhaps he was aware of the limited danger posed to the tractor unit.

He could not know that.

To be on the safe side he could have moved the tractor unit while waiting for the fire service to arrive.

 

Geeezzzz!!!  Why do I sometimes feel that posting on here is like trying to have a conversation with the wife 

1 minute ago, Daffy D said:

10 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

That's the point, the whole lot did not go up, perhaps he was aware of the limited danger posed to the tractor unit.

He could not know that.

To be on the safe side he could have moved the tractor unit while waiting for the fire service to arrive.

Yes, he certainly could have known that, he was there at the scene, you weren't.

5 hours ago, Hi Tea said:

he certainly could have known that

WoW with a talent like that he should be doing the lottery.