Tyre fire.
 

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...t-9840058.html

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/n...re_breaks_out/

The bus exploded, don't you know!! :rolleyes:

Yep, that was probably the air escaping the tyre.

It was reference to an explosion that prompted me to investigate further.

I have been close to a burning vehicle when the tyres have popped, but, apparently, in this event one tyre was 'shot' across the road - presumably by the explosion of the adjacent tyre.

I presume that the fire was caused by overheating due to running under-inflated.

Anybody here got any stories about tyre fires?

Not tyre fires but, a workmate of mine was trundling down the M6, near the junction with the M5, when he spotted smoke coming from the trailer wheels.

Onto the hard shoulder and, stop near an emergency phone. No mobiles back then. A quick look see and straight on to the operator. Conversation went something like:-

"Hello, Have you broken down?"

"No. One of my brake drums is on fire!"

Exchange of info. etc., and, soon after, Keith became aware of a two.tone siren (or ten) approaching from the north. Then, he noticed that there was a sudden lack of passing traffic!

The operator, possibly due to the high background noise levels, had slightly mis-heard Keith and instigated a chemical drum fire alert!!!:o:o:o:o:eek::eek:

Traffic mayhem throughout the West Midlands for a number of hours as it happened in the evening peak!!!

Better safe than sorry.

I am a member of a local bus forum and one member posted this story (after I had posted it here).
Some of the members seem to have close connections to the operators.
I pointed out that tyre pressure monitoring would have prevented this fire (or at least it could have if the driver had responded to the warning).

They seem to have many breakdowns where the bus 'fails' (such as overheating due to loss of cooling fluid) where (IMO) the driver should have been aware of something wrong, but, it seems that, unless the vehicle stops of its own volition the drivers have to keep going.
Several times I have been on buses with warning lamps lit and the drivers tell me that "It doesn't matter."
When when I've mentioned things like a screaming back axle (still screaming week after week) or harsh shifts it seems to fall on deaf ears.
Few (if any) of the drivers seem to have any appreciation of significant mechanical matters.