Minivan Fire

A minivan fully involved. Toronto Fire was called to the rear of 2083 Weston Rd, after a reported fire in the steering column of a vehicle quickly got out of hand. The intense radiant heat from the fire set a nearby wood fence ablaze and melted the mirrors on a work van. Watch for the vehicle battery explosion around 3:52.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• car
• fire
• minivan
• fully
• involved
• TFS
• Toronto
• vehicle
• burning
• explosion
• electrical
• battery

[Toronto324]

did P442 respond only to this or more Units I think an Aerial did come.

[vaughanweather]

@Toronto324 ugh I think an aerial was requested as an additional app but the pumper took care of everything long before. Most car fires are one or two truck situations at the most, I think the aerial was sent because there was some concern of extension.

[STREETRACEN4U]

u have alot of good vids.. im deff. subscribing!! but your vids are to good!! im begining to think ur setting these fires!! then recording them!! because in your vids! ur there b4 the police and fire department!!

[vaughanweather]

@STREETRACEN4U hahaha no no, I have not set any fires and don't plan to, unless they are BBQ's or camp fires. In Toronto and the GTA as a whole there are usually a few car fires a night. It's just a matter of dumb luck, eventually after a certain period of time you just luck out. In other cases where dumpsters, garages and sheds starting burning all in the same area minutes apart its usually arson and media guys like myself will just head to the area and wait for the next fire.

[CovertOPSDragunov]

hey wasn't this on citynews?nice videos

[vaughanweather]

@CovertOPSDragunov City News was there...

[kaleblovestoskate]

wow they really hurried to get there

[peterp696]

@amateurpyrotech: Airbag components have magnesium in it. That's the super white glow in the fire. I'm guessing  the explosion at the mid point is from the passenger side airbag. Battery would have melted long time ago in this fire. Burning magnesium burns hotter when you put water on it, as you can clearly see in this video. Either use a dry chem extinguisher or in a car fire, just let it burn off an it's own. Don't look directly at burning magnesium fire.

[theonlysilentbob]

With that said, it could have been a very small magnesium component and the blue tint cloud have been from the white balance on the camera which was set at about 2700K. At that colour temperature daylight type whites (5500k) tend to have a blue cast to them. I have been to several tractor trailer fires and have never seen the glow that was seen with the minivan fires. Most tractor trailer fires seem to start in the engine and work their way into the cab. The exception is stuck tires that catch.

[theonlysilentbob]

When the battery exploded I imagine most of the cell went but maybe not all of them so there could still have been some power but it is also possible that magnesium was burning. Apparently magnesium is a common steering component for the actual metal support frame within the steering column. The only reason I would think arcing is because the glowing area seemed isolated and if it was a magnesium rod it would be a much larger area. The glow also had a blue tint to it while magnesiun burns white.