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Old 09-14-2006, 03:21 PM   #1
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Mental Ward
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almost burned my bus down




So I was driven my bus and hit a bump to fast, a gas can jumped in the air and cracked, and started leaking. Got where I was goin, and took the gas can out, and wiped up the spilled gas. Went about my day.

Roughly 30mins later or so go back in the bus and figure I better open all the windows. Im assuming the fact that Im an asshole and think Im superman is what got me in trouble.. cuz I was still smoking. Im pretty sure I even thought to myself "maybe I shoudlnt be smoking in here".. naw.. then all of a sudden. I dunno if it was ashe, or the fact that it was 120 outside today.. but muther fucker started burning like crazy. Black smoke filled my bus. and I ran for the fire extinguisher that I keep up front. Put the gas fire out.. but the fire has spread to all my curtins (which are made of black velvet).. my extinguisher is empty. so I figure I only got a water hose. at this point I cant even go in the bus cuz its so hot, and you cant see or breath in there. I just start spraying water through the window like crazy at any orange I see. roughly 5mins later its out.. there is black smoke billowing out of my bus for a good 20mins, and the occasional flames jump back up. so I have to spray them out.

Eventually the smoke has cleared and I can get inside to open all the windows and assess the damage.

Amazingly nothing of importance burned. Just some blankets and my curtins, and the pipes holding the curtins up were melted into funny shapes. And one bench seat got torched and meltaed.The floor has a big black mark where the fire started, and there is powder and water everywhere.


Took me all day to clean it up, and scrub the celining to get the black off. You can tell there was a fire in there, but its nowhere near as bad.

It almost doesnt smell anymore.

crazy **** man.. I mean this was no small fire. It was a huge gasoline fire at the back of the bus. Blankets and curtins were burning like ******* crazy. you couldnt not see or breathe inside the bus. It was ******* hot, and I had just enough time to see the flames to spray them out. then get out before I blacked out from smoke and heat.

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Old 09-14-2006, 03:33 PM   #2
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Wow, a fire on the bus is what I worry about the most. Do you have any pictures to share?
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Old 09-14-2006, 04:32 PM   #3
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i'm glad you're ok!

i worry about fire sometimes too. I've considered connecting a pump to the jacuzzi and garden hose to use just in case of fire. I have somewhere between 400 and 600 gallons of water on the bus most of the time. I do have a fire extinguisher in the front, and one in the rear of the bus. I have a 3rd one that's usually somewhere near my flame thrower.

the most common extinguishers are the one you used, the dry chemical ABC extinguisher. They are very effective, but they spray a material that has the consistency of chalk dust over everything...they're a pain to clean up. My favorite extinguisher to use on anything of MINE that is burning is a BC rated CO2 extinguisher. They work very well and they dont leave any residue. They can also be used to cool down your drinks in a hurry!

i don't have fuses for all of my 12 volt circuits, and i know i should. I think that electrical would have the highest likelyhood of causing a fire on my bus.
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Old 09-14-2006, 05:26 PM   #4
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Savage, MN
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Year: 1992
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International
Engine: 7.3 diesel
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speaking of electric fires,

The company I'm with has a bluebird transhuttle (tc1000) 5.9 cummins

Well one moring I had parked the thing and went inside the building just like any other day. about 20 to 30 minutes later another driver came in, in a panic saying the bus was on fire and then ran back out grabing an extra extinguisher. The other shop guy walked out grabing another one too and I went to the tool box and grabed 2 half inch wrenches for the battery cables. Now when I went out there my truck was parked next to the bus so it looked like I was more worried about my truck then the bus when I hoped in that and backed that away. But really I was just moving it cause I couldn't open the battery box on the bus cause the truck was just a little too close to do so. Once I moved it I disconnected the cables just as the other shop guy got the fire out and all was almost good.

I spent maybe an hour plus with a garden hose just hosing everything up in front near the engine compartment including the driver seat which was cloth cause the extinguisher dust was just caked on it. That seat took a good week to dry out (march). We suspect it was a hot wire near the motor may have been pinched above the starter somewhere when the bus was in for an overhaul on the motor. Inssurance ended up paying for most of the work replacing wiring harnesses and a replacment noise and heat deflecter under the doghouse cover. Also they had to replace the dipstick and a few other odds and ends. I also think the coputer on the side of the motor had to be replaced because of this cause the heat didn't go good with it. This was a year and a half ago and the bus is still running good except for losing the spider gears in the rear end a month ago and the muffler rolling out while going around a clover leaf.

I forgot to mention that there was some motor oil leaking which may have helped the fire along a bit.
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Old 09-14-2006, 07:34 PM   #5
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Im just glad I havnt done alot of work to my bus yet. I intend on wood flooring it all, and painting and such. Luckily i hadnt done any of this.

The most ironic part of this all is, I dont even need gasoline to run my vehical! It runs on Veg oil and diesel.

so why did I have a 5gallon can of gas in there? Well I use gasoline for a variety of things, including but not limited to cleaning my washable vegoil filters (gas works better than diesel), as well as the occasional "mix" into veg oil if its hydrogenated or too thick and needs some 'thinning'
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Old 09-14-2006, 07:35 PM   #6
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oh yeah,, and what did I do after putting out the fire?

Smoke a cigarette.

Maybe I should quit
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