OT- Semi Trlr Fire, Criminal Stupidity, Christmas Miracle

[michiganbuck]

What a terrible shame...shed a tear
But now gone is gone.

 

[DavidScott]

Those ranting about this should realize ,once a bit of a fire happens in one wheel ,the maxi brakes come on and lock all the wheels of the trailer,....it cant be moved without winding off all the brakes,or a crane......id say the first thing the driver knew was the trailer brakes came on ,he would have looked in the mirror and seen the fire ........assuming he s a subbie with a company trailer,next move is to save his truck .....just pull the trailer pin lock and drive out from under the trailer.The brake hoses will likely pull off.

Depends on how loaded the trailer is. The times I drove a truck you couldn't tell the trailer brakes were locked unless you looked to see if the tires were spinning when there wasn't much in the trailer.

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

I'm pretty sure the fire was caused by trailer brakes, either he forgot to release them at last stop, or leak or other reason they engaged, all the tires were on fire when I arrived on the scene. I did consider possibility of the brakes engaging and forcing him to stop, but do not see any skid marks, so its hard to say. Nothing but open highway north of here, I think it was one of those situations that with enough airflow the flames were kept minimal, as he slowed down coming into town the flames grew until he, or maybe the truck behind him could see the flames. Don't think it was intentional, just poor judgement.

Friend burned a truck and trailer to the ground once, he forgot to release trailer brakes, by the time he noticed he was on fire the trailer was burning well, he stopped and pulled pin to drop trailer, but I'm guessing lost too much air and then the truck would not move, it was a total loss.

 

[gmach10]

This was about as smart as the morons park under viaducts or along guard rails when their cars break down. Gee you couldn't have coasted another 100-200 feet and parked on the shoulder?

 

[michiganbuck]

I got behind a garbage truck with an on-fire mud flap.. I pulled to his side with my flashes and he pulled off the road. We had a good 4" of new snow and so the fire wet out.

 

[Marty Feldman]

Thanks for posting this dalmationgirl61. A lot to think about.

-Marty-

 

[triumph406]

I remember a road trip in Europe maybe 2005, we were warned to be very wary of semi's on the Autobahns, especially the semi's from Bulgaria and Romania, since those two countries joined the EU the quality of semi drivers plummeted and in Austria and Italy you needed to be very carefull on the Autobahns. I didn't see any badly driven semi's that trip, but I was very carefull driving.

 

[Mebfab]

doubt the driver had any control of when the truck stopped pulling

perfect storm in the trucking industry right now

5 to one ratio of loads available to trucks available

waiver of dot enforcement due to pandemic......

No enforcement? I regularly see them weighing trucks, scales still open? Different system? (not trying to be smartass, really dont understand the system)

 

[Richard Winn]

Emergency Declarations, Waivers, Exemptions and Permits | FMCSA

 

[wheels17]

This reminds me of a childhood experience with a trailer fire. It was much worse than this one. It took place on June 26,1964 in Marshalls Creek, PA

A driver had a mixed load of explosives, including blasting caps in the load of 15 tons of dynamite. The trailer tires caught fire, he stripped the hazard placards, dropped the trailer and took off. He claimed no fire when he left, and that the placards had fallen off. Under the seat of the truck. The fire department responded and shortly after they arrived, the trailer blew, killing 6.

I was 10 years old at the time, and a couple of days later we drove past the crater. I still remember it clear as day.

There's a good write-up at Remembering the Marshalls Creek blast: 2004 article tells firefighters' stories - News - poconorecord.com - Stroudsburg, PA

 

[john.k]

About four years ago ,a truck blast here caused a claimed $7 m damage to a rail bridge 400 yds from the highway......60 tons of nitroprills for the coalmines.....No one was hurt ,as the truck driver left the trailers (3) and drove to the nearest town...in the meantime ,a fire brigade had a look at the fire ,used all their water ,and drove back to town for more.

 

[JST]

Across in Illinois a matter of 40 or more years ago, during a strike, a dynamite truck driven by a replacement driver (IIRC) was hit by gunfire and exploded on the highway.

In that case it was a deliberate act. I do not know if they ever found the murderer.

 

[Milland]

I didn't realize trailer brake overheating was such a risk. I'd think that ~$200 of IR sensors and a display in the cabin would allow for overheat alarms, set to below the typical flammability limit for stuff at close proximity (brake lines and fluid, what else?).

That guy who dropped the load of explosives and fled - while I'm not a believer, I hope he's rotting in hell...

 

[Joe Michaels]

Milland:

Heavy trucks and semi trailers use air brakes. No fluid to overheat or burn. Air brakes have 'spring cans', and will 'fail on' (needing air to release). Trailer brakes are drum brakes, and when they drag or fail to release, the result is smoking brakes (if caught in time), and a fire which usually spreads to the tires if the situation is un-noticed and the rig keeps on being driven in that condition. Should there be a break in the air hoses connecting the tractor to the trailer, or in the air lines on either the tractor or the trailer, the brakes will lock on in full emergency.

I recall some years ago, when I was working at the powerplant, we got a trouble call about a stuck 10 wheel dump truck. The line crew had been out on a powerline right of way with it and had been driving on some rough and rocky ground. The result was the clamp band which held one of the brake cans together was knocked half off (with the potential for the contained spring to be released violently), and a broken an air line to the brakes on the rear axles. The result was the brakes had locked on, and the damaged spring can looked like it could let go at any moment. We had to get the truck out of where it was and back to the powerplant fleet garage.

One of the mechanics had a father who was also a heavy truck mechanic who lived nearby. He drove to his father's place and borrowed some 'cage bolts'. These are tee-headed bolts used to manually compress and contain the springs in a truck's air brake cans. We wound up caging the springs on the brake cans on the rear axles, and then capping off the brake lines to the rear axles. That let the truck's airbrake system pump up and release the brakes on the front axle. The truck was driven back to the plant, which was within perhaps 5 miles of where the truck had gotten damaged, using just the front axle brakes.

As for trucks loaded with explosives used in mining or construction blowing up, I was always told that it was illegal for a driver to carry blasting caps on the same truck as the explosives. Many of the blasting agents used in mining or construction require a small 'pre explosion' to set them off, which is what the blasting caps accomplish. On the few job sites I was on where blasting was required, I recall the explosives were in stick form, sometimes in plastic casings. The explosives would be delivered by a placarded truck from the powder magazine right to the blasters. The blasters would open the cases of explosives and lay out the sticks near the holes to be loaded. The blasters would load the holes with the sticks of explosive, and it was the blaster who seemed to have the blasting caps with him, and he did not get the caps out until he was ready to prime one of the sticks.

One one power transmission line job, I was assigned to oversee the installation of some caisson type foundations for power transmission structures. The caissons were made by using an auger about 12 feet in diameter, mounted on a crane. The auger would drill down to a depth of about 40 feet. If rock were encountered, this was where I would have to take a look-see and determine if the contractor was justified in an 'extra' for 'rock excavation'. The surface of the rock would be exposed, we'd do down in the hole and probe it with bars and see if it were something some pre-drilling could help the auger get through, or whether it was time to 'drill and shoot'. Usually, we went with the 'drill and shoot' in the interests of keeping on schedule. We were crowding into cold weather, and each caisson was filled with concrete, so we did not need to freezing weather. Bore holes were drilled into the exposed rock, and the holes were loaded up with explosive and 'stemmed'- packed with pea gravel to contain and direct the force of the blast radially around the holes rather than blowing back up out of the holes. No blasting mats were used, just the big auger was lowered down and sat on the rock surface once the primers were all wired up. After the warning signals sounded and radio notifications were made, the shot was fired. Not particularly dramatic. On one such occasion, things did take an unexpected turn. We had waited the required time after the blast and the auger operator started the auger turning in the hole to muck out. He raised the auger with a load of shot rock on it, and started blowing the air horn on his crane. Wrapped around the auger was plenty of the wire used to connect the blasting caps, and some unexploded sticks of explosive. We cleared the area. It was decided to wait something like 30 minutes, and if nothing untoward happened, the blaster said he'd climb up on the auger and retrieve and un-prime the unfired explosive sticks.
Whether the blaster had missed something in his connections when he made up the wires connecting the blasting caps to his blasting box, of whether there was a dud primer we never found out. The blaster retrieved the explosives and primers and they were taken some distance away along the right of way and set off properly.

There was quite a bit of paperwork and 'chain of custody' on the explosives and primers, even 30 + years ago on the jobs. I can remember people from the corporate offices getting all nervous and jerky at seeing orange trucks with placards reading "Explosives" driving on the jobsites. The men would reassure the corporate types that without primers, the explosives in the trucks were pretty much inert. That is why I am surprised to read of incidents where dynamite or other explosives and blasting caps were carried on the same trucks. I had a bit of a practical joker in me, so convinced one of the blasters to give me an empty cardboard box which had contained sticks of dynamite and was so labelled. The blaster said he was supposed to destroy the boxes when the explosives were used since the boxes had lot numbers and other 'chain of custody' data on them. I got hold of one such box and put it on the cargo deck of the Power Authority Bronco assigned to me. When I'd have people from corporate aboard and be driving on the powerline right of way (getting paid to go 4-wheeling), some of them would remark about the rough driving conditions, and express some concerns. I'd size up my audience and if they were people I knew would not make a federal case out of it, I'd offhandedly remark that we were in no immediate danger, and ask them to check on 'the box on the cargo deck- see if it is OK". Of course, they'd read the labels on the box and want to get out and walk, or express other sentiments about me and why I was crazy enough to ride around with a box of explosives. I'd let things run for a bit, and eventually would show them the box was empty, weighed down with a piece of 1/4" steel plate. That was 35 years ago, and I imagine regulations for handling explosives and all else related to it have tightened quite a bit. Chances are riding around with an empty carton from a batch of explosives as a joke might not go over so easily as it did back then.

 

[JST]

My understanding is (we have some explosives folks on the form who can correct us) that the "inert" is a "sort-of". The stuff is in a form that can go off, it just lacks the correct trigger.

They are inert against most ordinary things, and many will burn hot, but not explode in a fire, unless a bigger amount "cooks off".

What they require as I understand it, is a shock wave. The blasting cap has a little dent in it and an explosive that will re-form and send that little dent of material through the stick creating a shock wave, which will set off the explosive. Not too unlike a shaped charge, apparently.

While most things that can happen will not set off the stuff, I am told that a rifle bullet might if it hit when still at high velocity , and might do so even at lower velocity if it hits and traps some explosive between it and a surface (I may have misunderstood that part). So the strike-breaker's truck incident is apparently credible even with no caps in the truck. So I am told.

I dunno what was in the truck, but I saw the hole.

 

[LKeithR]

I was expecting to see "SWIFT" on the side of that trailer.

Glad they saved the building, though. And by the way, that bar looks ultra-cool...

 

[john.k]

The official line here is that nitroprills is safe and more or less inert ,unless diesel is mixed with it......But they are explosive experts and know this is a lie.....all nitroprill needs to explode is to melt ,and it will then detonate without any outside agent but the heat from burning tyres under the steel deck of the semi.

 

[duckfarmer27]

Spent many years as a combat engineer (mostly reserve components) and so was trained and around quite a bit of blasting. As previously mentioned most explosives are pretty darn inert. Especially military, as that application gets rougher handling in use that normal commercial. But then it is all the propagation of the shock wave that sets the chain off. Then there is just the fate/luck or whatever you want to call it. Many years ago there was an accident in Germany - US forces. They were training with a cratering device - where the object is to end up with holes like in the picture so as to stop tanks and other tracked vehicles. As it was training the group was gathered in close learning the procedure. My memory is that it was determined to have been caused by static electricity - real odd ball occurrence. You take all the precautions but in this case that was not enough. Again, my memory which could be wrong after all these years - this particular device used a solid rocket motor to fire a shaped charge as part of the sequence and the problem was the rocket motor cooking off.

Now before someone complains about that idea. Old method was what was called a 'triple nickel forty'. You started by using 15 40 pound shaped charges in three rows of 5, middle row offset. Use standoffs with the shaped charges, blow and get 15 bore holes. Then put a 40 pound cratering charge in the bottom of each hole and blow - you get a crater. Then if you cover it with fire appropriately you have an obstacle to stop the bad guy's tanks coming down the autobahn. The improved version with the rocket motor made it a one step process. When somebody is shooting at you any time savings in the process is eagerly accepted by those having to place the divot.

Different people react in different ways. I can remember one training day we were teaching how to hook up a ring main with det cord - you have to use a uli knot and girth hitch when setting them up. We had probably 20 soldiers, each one had to tie a quarter pound stick of military dynamite into the ring main. One kid (by this time I was an old man in the group) shook so bad he had a hell of a time getting his tied in. But we got him there. Like the truck driver in the original post - I'm guessing he panicked and only worried about himself, dropping that flaming mess in the middle of town. Trouble is unless people have been stressed - and I mean really stressed - previously there is always some doubt as to how a person will react. That's why it is really a good idea to know your battle buddy.

Dale

 

[Scottl]

I didn't realize trailer brake overheating was such a risk. I'd think that ~$200 of IR sensors and a display in the cabin would allow for overheat alarms, set to below the typical flammability limit for stuff at close proximity (brake lines and fluid, what else?).

That guy who dropped the load of explosives and fled - while I'm not a believer, I hope he's rotting in hell...

Although it happens fairly often, trailer brake fires are still relatively rare in relation to miles driven. It is estimated that truck drivers drive an estimated 140 billion miles every year, and that a single semi drives about 45,000 miles a year on average. Given those statistics brake fires are a very tiny percentage.

Air brakes were originally developed for trains. Prior to their use, braking was done by brakemen who rode the cars and used hand wheels to actuate brakes. Due to their precarious perch brakemen suffered a high mortality rate.

When heavy trucks began to shift some of the cargo air brakes began to be used on them as well. The system default is "ON" (brakes locked by powerful springs) and require air pressure to unlock. This is a critical safety feature for both trains and heavy trucks. While a brake fire is dangerous, it is trivial in comparison to the danger of a runaway train or heavily loaded trailer. It's a matter of balancing risks.

 

[john.k]

On one of the reality TV shows,a millenial is complaining hes got to drive a replacement truck ,which is a "slug" ,because its only 600hp......no wonder they dont notice dragging brakes and wheel bearings.