my aunt and uncle lost their motor home

whoa!

so my aunt and uncle were driving home from new mexico in their motor home. they just made it over the pass on I-25 into colorado and were coming down a steep grade. my aunt looked up at the monitor for the rear view camera and noticed some flames. it took her about a 1/4 mile to stop and pull over along the side of the road (they were also towing their SUV). she turned to grab her purse and a bag and also to see what else she could grab, but black smoke started pouring into the hallway from the back bedroom. they both got out and watched both the motor home and the SUV burn to the ground. the flames hit the propane tanks and created huge explosions. interestingly enough, however, the fuel tanks for the RV, the SUV, and the generators didnt explode. she said that she was lucky that the motor home still had enough air pressure in the braking system to stop it. i dont know what they would have done if they couldnt stop it. it took the fire department 3 hours to finally put out the flames because it kept reigniting from the heat.

everyone is ok, but holy shit, what an experience!

 

Wow. I am glad to hear that they are ok... It could of been a lot worse.

 

Thats crazy! I've driven through that pass (raton pass?) about 10 times and it is pretty intense. Probably severely overheated the engine or something.

Glad they made it out though.

 

Holy crap! Glad everyone is ok.

 

Glad they are ok...................and thanks god for camera's.........

 

ya... their motor home had been having alot of problems. its buring down is the last episode in a long saga of issues.

if fact, they had just picked it up from a repair shop because of some over heating issues. i dont know much about rv's, but my aunt was saying that this rv will totally shut down before it over heats. it did that to them and thats why they took it to the shop. however, the guys at the shop said that they couldnt find anything wrong with it.

actually, they are glad that it ended this way. they wanted to get rid of it because of all the issues, but they werent sure how they could sell it in the condition it was in. well... now... the insurance will pay it off.

 

Whoa forreal good thing she looked into the camera and good to know they made it out ok.

 

the driver behind her that saw a sudden flash of light and a puff of smoke come out from the engine compartment (rear engine diesel pusher). he then saw flames almost immediately after that. he raced up to the front of the RV to try to signal them to pull over, but my aunt had aleady saw it and was in the process of pulling over.

 

glad they got out fine! car and rv are replaceable. how old was the rv? My dad has a 36' Pace Arrow but the engine is up front. Just from firefighting, RV fires are a b*tch. All the chemicals from the fiberglass, interior fixtures, gas, makes them burn like crazy.

 

the RV was about 10 years old and they had it for about 8 years.

i forgot the make, but i know its a 45 footer, diesel pusher that weighs about 30000 pounds.

 

Wow, glad to hear they made it out fine without getting hurt!
But you said the propane tanks exploded, are you sure about this? I think they have a pressure release so if it gets hot enough it will start to let gas out.

Or maybe I'm thinking of bigger tanks......

 

Glad there ok, God was looking over them!

 

Glad no one was hurt.

Any pics?

 

all propane tanks SHOULD have this safety valve. If it burns quick enough, they will burn regardless

 

well.. there were alot of things failiing on this RV (obviously) so maybe that failed too? my aunt and uncle claimed that the tanks exploded and i havent known them to exaggerate stories so i tend to believe them.

from the time my aunt saw the first flames to when it was fully engulfed in flames was 3 minutes.

no pics as far as i know.

 

Dang thats crazy. Driving through Florida I saw an RV post fire. There wasn't anything left. It was just a few pieces of metal in a heap. Glad they are ok.

 

my aunt took some pictures of the fire....







the fire slightly burned the hillside






that was a saturn vue






front of the motorhome


rear rim and engine block

 

Wow! thats a lot worse than I imagined.

 

holy $#!T, there's nothing left!

glad everyone made it out ok

 

any idea how it started?

glad they made it out