Bus Explosion Rocks Rush Hour Kent

[overthewater]

So says Sky news:

mainly pics: http://news.sky.com/story/1081564/bus-explosion-rocks-rush-hour-kent


http://www.lbc.co.uk/bus-explosion-rocks-rush-hour-kent-70880

A bus exploded into flames near the Brands Hatch race track in Kent.

The driver of the Arriva single decker noticed smoke coming from the engine and stopped the vehicle on the London Road junction with Kingsingfield Road, in West Kingsdown, at about 7am.

There were no passengers on board at the time.

The driver got off the bus, a fire quickly started and moments later there was a big explosion, according to witnesses.

Christina Lister, her young sons Jack and Tom, and her niece Georgina Mann, 20, who live just a few metres from the incident in Bakers Avenue, were all woken up by the sound of the blast.

Ms Lister said: "We thought a bomb had gone off."

Fire crews put out the fire, which caused 90% damage to the vehicle.

Officers helped control traffic and left the scene with the fire under control shortly after 9am.

 

[High Dyke]

Or the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-22252344

 

[Jordy]

The BBC article is far less dramatic about the 'explosion'!

People living nearby were woken by the noise of one of the tyres exploding in the heat

 

[MK Tom]

I get the impression this happens to Arriva vehicles far more often than any other national operator.

 

[90sWereBetter]

Total write-off, obviously. So when can we expect this one to be running for Wirst in Northampton?

It does look pretty dramatic from the photos.

 

[Qwerty133]

Total write-off, obviously. So when can we expect this one to be running for Wirst in Northampton?

It does look pretty dramatic from the photos.

or for centrebus at hinckley (it'd still be more reliable than some of theirs)

 

[A0]

I get the impression this happens to Arriva vehicles far more often than any other national operator.

I think that's more your impression - given Arriva are your local operator - than actual fact.

A quick 'Google news' search for bus fire returns:

- Today's Kent fire, Arriva
- 16th April, Iow - Southern Vectis (Go Ahead)
- 4th April, Harrow - Metroline
- 22nd April - Scarborough - EYMS

Hardly evidence that Arriva suffer more than any other operator.

 

[455driver]

I wonder if the "big explosion" was just the tyre popping, they go well.

 

[MK Tom]

I think that's more your impression - given Arriva are your local operator - than actual fact.

A quick 'Google news' search for bus fire returns:

- Today's Kent fire, Arriva
- 16th April, Iow - Southern Vectis (Go Ahead)
- 4th April, Harrow - Metroline
- 22nd April - Scarborough - EYMS

Hardly evidence that Arriva suffer more than any other operator.

It happened in MK a month or two back, in Aylesbury a month or so before that. I can only think of one time I've heard of a Stagecoach vehicle doing this. Never happens in Northampton.

Of course I don't doubt that it happens across the country to all operators sometimes. But Arriva do have poorer maintenance than Stagecoach, GoAhead and others. That's evident from the condition of vehicles and engines.

 

[overthewater]

Stageocoach bus went on fire this mouth in Perth, Its seem to be the same type that likes going up in flames
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oh look another bus fire.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22295492

 

[Ivo]

Bus fires aren't rare. And any bus is vulnerable to them - although poor maintenance certainly doesn't help.

I've never seen a bus fire, although I know of plenty, most of which have been terminal. I've also known one bus - guess who operated it - to go up in flames, be restored, and then go up again just weeks later, this time irreparably!

The most obvious one for me though was about seven years ago - because my father was driving...

 

[MK Tom]

So what causes this to happen? It's the sort of thing you'd try to design out really. People's cars don't tend to spontaneously combust and there are a hell of a lot more cars than buses kicking around. That said it did happen to a car outside my house once, quite spectacularly. But that was a Rover 400.

Like I said I just find I hear of a lot more Arriva fires than Stagecoach/GoAhead/First ones, from all round the country, and locally I hear of them from Aylesbury and Wycombe far more often than I ever do from Oxford or Bedford or Northampton.

 

[westcoaster]

So what causes this to happen? It's the sort of thing you'd try to design out really. People's cars don't tend to spontaneously combust and there are a hell of a lot more cars than buses kicking around. That said it did happen to a car outside my house once, quite spectacularly. But that was a Rover 400.

Like I said I just find I hear of a lot more Arriva fires than Stagecoach/GoAhead/First ones, from all round the country, and locally I hear of them from Aylesbury and Wycombe far more often than I ever do from Oxford or Bedford or Northampton.

wycombe has always been a bus breaker, iirc all/ most buses have a low gear ratio due to some of the hills out of town, especially the one by the station. Fires happen for all sorts of reasons engine fire, fuel/oil leak and so on.

 

[A0]

So what causes this to happen? It's the sort of thing you'd try to design out really. People's cars don't tend to spontaneously combust and there are a hell of a lot more cars than buses kicking around. That said it did happen to a car outside my house once, quite spectacularly. But that was a Rover 400.

Like I said I just find I hear of a lot more Arriva fires than Stagecoach/GoAhead/First ones, from all round the country, and locally I hear of them from Aylesbury and Wycombe far more often than I ever do from Oxford or Bedford or Northampton.

Well there are two things which tend to cause fires in cars, lorries, buses or trains:

- electrical problems which can cause a fire to start
- some form of damage to the fuel system which causes either petrol or diesel to spray all around a hot engine bay.

And cars most certainly do "spontaneously combust" - I had a family member who parked a newish car and came back to find it on fire - the root issue I think was electrical on that, but if a component gets too hot and catches fire, in the eyes of a layman that would be 'spontaneous combustion'.

Poor maintenance can be a cause, but equally so can a design flaw or similar.

As I pointed out, you seem to hear more about Arriva's problems, but then when you're based in MK that's possibly to be expected given they're your main operator and across Bucks / Beds / Herts and Oxon run far more vehicles than Stagecoach do out of Bedford or Northampton.

I don't think every incident gets reported on this board - though for the record the other one on Google this week was a McGills bus in Scotland - and that looked like a newish double deck.

 

[90019]

People's cars don't tend to spontaneously combust and there are a hell of a lot more cars than buses kicking around.

They do, but it doesn't tend to be reported so much, if at all.

In the case of car fires, you'll tend to see it more as a report of a road being closed due to the fire, rather than a report of the fire itself.

 

[185]

I think that's more your impression - given Arriva are your local operator - than actual fact.

A quick 'Google news' search for bus fire returns:

- Today's Kent fire, Arriva
- 16th April, Iow - Southern Vectis (Go Ahead)
- 4th April, Harrow - Metroline
- 22nd April - Scarborough - EYMS

Hardly evidence that Arriva suffer more than any other operator.

My former employer Arriva Yorkshire Woollen.... £5 book token for safely evacuating 40 passengers....?


M56 AWW Before:
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6189/6143809679_f19c091c8f_z.jpg
After:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/6948782972_2e1c9eb60b_z.jpg

 

[michael769]

The most common cause of fire in commercial vehicles is debris or a build up of dirt combusting on the host exhaust and spreading to the fuel system.

It is more common in rear engine vehicles with are more vulnerable to stuff getting thrown up into the engine compartment by the wheels.

Car fires are mostly electrical with the odd fuel leak thrown in.

Commercial vehicles fires are more common than car fires, probably because of the much larger mileages.

Actual explosions are almost unheard of but the fires can be extremely fierce and often render it impossible for vehicles to pass the scene safely.

 

[A0]

The most common cause of fire in commercial vehicles is debris or a build up of dirt combusting on the host exhaust and spreading to the fuel system.

It is more common in rear engine vehicles with are more vulnerable to stuff getting thrown up into the engine compartment by the wheels.

Car fires are mostly electrical with the odd fuel leak thrown in.

Commercial vehicles fires are more common than car fires, probably because of the much larger mileages.

Actual explosions are almost unheard of but the fires can be extremely fierce and often render it impossible for vehicles to pass the scene safely.

Most of the "explosions" are actually tyres exploding.

The only other thing which is susceptible to exploding would be the fuel tank - and petrol engined vehicles are more likely to suffer that due to the way petrol reacts to fire.

 

[MK Tom]

Not just tyres as well, but windows. The Rover 400 I mentioned earlier alterted me to its presence when the steering wheel melted, causing the horn to sound continuously for about five minutes. Then all the windows and tyres blew out one by one, each creating a fairly titantic bang.

Point taken regarding Arriva and my locality, but it's the same with breakdowns. To be fair to Arriva 90% of breakdowns in MK seem to be Vale Travel.

 

[Ivo]

The fire I referred to earlier was caused by an exhaust problem combined with a necessary reversal on the route - not something a driver can do much about. But this is also not a problem that should affect smaller vehicles, as the exhaust is that much higher off the ground, and that much smaller. Then again, this was Step Dart, which says a lot...

I don't think every incident gets reported on this board - though for the record the other one on Google this week was a McGills bus in Scotland - and that looked like a newish double deck.

It can't have been that new; production of the ALX400 body stopped something like seven years ago in favour of the Enviro400 body. Wikipedia suggests that only a mass order from Dublin kept the chassis going well into 2006 (link). The vehicle could have been anything up to 16 years old.

 

[overthewater]

It's was a 52 plate