Big car fire today...

[JeffKeryk]

I was headed over highway 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of our home today to help my grand nieces with some car stuff.
Saw a bunch of smoke and came upon a roaring car fire on the North bound side; a Subaru wagon, 80's maybe? Burnt to a crisp but entire car engulfed in flames. Hundreds of cars backed up the 2 lanes... HW Patrol and Firefighters were trying to help get a fire truck through. It was a mess.

Glad for the off and on rain. And for the brave public servants.

 

[fantastic]

Well, that's a bad day for someone unless they have good insurance. Always curious to know how it started. I know there was a fire around here a few years back & they were having transmission problems before the fire.

 

[97prizm]

I was headed over highway 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of our home today to help my grand nieces with some car stuff.
Saw a bunch of smoke and came upon a roaring car fire on the North bound side; a Subaru wagon, 80's maybe? Burnt to a crisp but entire car engulfed in flames. Hundreds of cars backed up the 2 lanes... HW Patrol and Firefighters were trying to help get a fire truck through. It was a mess.

Glad for the off and on rain. And for the brave public servants.

You would think that more fire departments especially if near a highway would carry foam or other chemicals to combat vehicle fires.

 

[zzyzzx]

You would think that more fire departments especially if near a highway would carry foam or other chemicals to combat vehicle fires.

There was a fuel truck overturn at a highway intersection around here a few years ago. It was reasonably close to BWI, so the airport fire department came by to out it out because they were equipped to put out a fuel fire. I doubt that normal fire departments are set up for this type of thing.
https://www.firehouse.com/photo-sto...y-tanker-crash-near-baltimore-county-maryland

 

[JeffKeryk]

You would think that more fire departments especially if near a highway would carry foam or other chemicals to combat vehicle fires.

The problem was getting to the scene. Thousands of cars travel north in the AM and return in the late afternoon/evening.
The backup was perhaps 2 miles long. My guess is the fire had been going on for some time, as the car was pretty much done, but still engulfed in flames.

Here's the only pic I've seen:

 

[dogememe]

I guess the best approach would have been for fire trucks or emergency vehicles to come from the opposite direction? But I'm no expert lol.

The other day I saw a Prius get a flat tire and pull over on a two-lane road... right onto some tall, dry grass. All I could think of was the catalytic converter lighting up the grass and causing a huge fire but thankfully I guess nothing happened.

 

[ripcord]

I guess the best approach would have been for fire trucks or emergency vehicles to come from the opposite direction? But I'm no expert lol.

The other day I saw a Prius get a flat tire and pull over on a two-lane road... right onto some tall, dry grass. All I could think of was the catalytic converter lighting up the grass and causing a huge fire but thankfully I guess nothing happened.

This scenario happened near where my parents live. Tens of thousands of acres burned. The guy even had shovels and tools in his truck but couldn't put it all out before it got away from him.

 

[meep]

80s Subaru wagon? Would have likely been carbuerated. The spare tire also sits on top of the engine. Very easy to work on, lots of room. But it’s 40 years old, and they had rubber fuel lines.

I dislike car fires. Was in one a long time ago.

 

[Chris142]

California drivers are the worst when it comes to emergency vehicles. No body wants to be inconvenienced by pulling over to let them pass so they hold their lane and hold up the emergency vehicle.

 

[JeffKeryk]

California drivers are the worst when it comes to emergency vehicles. No body wants to be inconvenienced by pulling over to let them pass so they hold their lane and hold up the emergency vehicle.

On this stretch of highway 17, there is very little place to pull over; almost none. The line of stopped cars was miles long. I'm not sure what they did...
At the time, I thought the fire truck should have come from the south bound side, as @dogememe suggested. It would have had to work over the cement divider barrier...

I do not know how long it took to clean up, but I came home about 2:30 PM and it was difficult to see where the car was.

 

[slo town]

On this stretch of highway 17, there is very little place to pull over; almost none. The line of stopped cars was miles long. I'm not sure what they did...
At the time, I thought the fire truck should have come from the south bound side, as @dogememe suggested. It would have had to work over the cement divider barrier...

I do not know how long it took to clean up, but I came home about 2:30 PM and it was difficult to see where the car was.

@JeffKeryk is correct in his comments about Hwy 17. High volume, high speed, winding road traffic through the Santa Cruz Mountains with virtually no room for emergency access. Simply having a flat tire can be a serious issue on this road because of the lack of shoulders.

Look at @JeffKeryk's picture. Go back long enough, the concrete center divider you see didn't even exist. All that separated the oncoming lanes was a 12 inch wide double yellow dividing line.

Back in "the day" there were lots of head on crashes on Hwy 17, especially in the rain when people slid into the oncoming lane, hitting left front corner to left front corner - "offset" crashes, one of the worst. That stretch of Hwy 17 was called "Blood Alley", and for very good reason.

As an aside, way back in the early '60s I was returning home from Santa Cruz on Hwy 17 with my parents. A Chevy Corvair spun out and shot off the road right in front of us. We stopped and ran down the embankment to the wreckage, helping the driver out. That particular crash was one of Ralph Nader's examples in his hit on the Corvair's safety.

Scott

 

[tbm3fan]

The problem was getting to the scene. Thousands of cars travel north in the AM and return in the late afternoon/evening.
The backup was perhaps 2 miles long. My guess is the fire had been going on for some time, as the car was pretty much done, but still engulfed in flames.

Here's the only pic I've seen:
View attachment 266786

If you have ever drove this road any day of the week it can be a *****. It is enough to keep me from simply going down to Santa Cruz for a weekend day.

 

[JeffKeryk]

If you have ever drove this road any day of the week it can be a *****. It is enough to keep me from simply going down to Santa Cruz for a weekend day.

I avoid commute times. Even then there can be accidents and work crews.