Yet another bus fire

[CrabbyMilton]

First, nobody was hurt. This time it was a VAN-HOOL TD925.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Megabus-Catches-Fire-on-Suburban-Highway-369584521.html

[jbnewman]

Based on the tweets from the New York Times Frugal Traveler who was on the bus, the driver knew there was a problem and pulled over several times. Ultimately stopped because "a tire blew." Then smoke started pouring into the bus.

[bigred]

These mega buses are for some reason prone to catching .This makes either three or four that ave burned down.All I believe are related to blown tires or brakes.I did not know that Van Hool was the manufacturer of the Mega Bus.Their bus conversions are prone generator fires but that would not be a factor in the Mega Fires.

[buswarrior]

An older 8 wheeler, there will be a couple million miles on that chassis.

Tires or brakes.

The newer ones are 10 wheelers, like the Scenicruisers.

Tractor trailer kind of weights, with the axles contained in closed up spaces, ample engine power that the driver will not feel a dragging brake, tire pressure monitors are notoriously unreliable and the alarms must routinely be ignored.

The "explosion" would have been a tire letting go from heat. The trouble would be well underway by the time the tire provided excitement and a media talking point.

For the busnut?  Know your weights, annual preventive maintenance on your brakes, check your tire inflation, keep your credentials stored close to your door?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[TomC]

Probably a simple tire monitoring system that monitors pressure along with temperature may have prevented this. I don't understand why commercial vehicles do not have tire pressure monitoring as standard equipment-most all cars do now. Good Luck, TomC

[buswarrior]

Tom, this coach had tire pressure monitoring...

The trouble is they fail, and drivers are told to drive, the shop knows...

A temperature sensor would similarly falsely fail, and be ignored.

Insurance takes care of it all,  in a corporate share dividend world...

We need "real owners" involved to spend a bit of ca$h differently...

And aircraft style maintenance of warning systems. False reading? grounded...

Not anytime soon...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[luvrbus]

All buses burn even with a automatic fire suppression system,our friends lost a 2009 Prevost because Prevost did a dumb thing they mounted the supply tank in the engine compartment then the with the heat the tank would vent. When you had a fire the tank was empty a lot of Prevost's were lost between 2009 and 2011 before Prevost figured that one out resulting in a massive recall by Volvo fwiw turbo's cause more fires than tires i read   

[easystreet]

Funny Luvrbus you should mention turbo chargers as a cause of fires. We have and old Pete semi tractor in the fleet that is a spare - has 3406B for power. Truck is really pretty nice unit yet. 2 weeks ago driver was returning to yard, using jake, slowing down/ shifting down to enter yard. I was in shop, heard two loud explosions, front office folks saw flames coming out stacks as truck turned in. Driver immediately shut down and coasted to stop in yard. As I approached the truck you could hear metal crinkling / expanding from heat. Truck has dual mufflers w stacks. Could feel intense heat from all of exhaust system from 3 ft away. Turbo bearing failed to point oil seal rings gave up, putting oil into exhaust. Figure jake put lots of air into exhaust and things lit off.  Fortunately things had just gone south as there was no oil into intake on compressor side and both wheels stayed together. Do this with a low mount confined exhaust under a bus and things might get interesting. 

[Scott & Heather]

So, this begs the question, if your engine blows, your insurance won't cover it. But if your engine blows and the bus burns, your insurance does cover it right? Moral of the story: forget the fire suppression.
Just get out with your guns and your wallet.


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[HB of CJ]

IF IT is true the driver stopped a couple of times before the fire and if the fire was directly related to the problem checked out by the driver a couple time prior to the fire, at what point does the responsibility of the bus driver begin... and end?

Low tire pressure?  High tire temperature?  Steering input concerns and changes?  My feeble point is here if the driver SHOULD have just pulled over safely and waited for a service vehicle, why did he not do so?  Did he drive it to destruction?

Be curious how this plays out.  Nobody hurt.  If the driver was in communication with the dispatcher or company and was ordered to keep on driving, then what?  Accountability must be maintained or this will happen again and again.

[belfert]

From what I've heard about some of the Megabus drivers they don't seem to hire the best and the brightest.  The Van Hools that Megabus is using are not that old, but I am sure they are racking up a lot of miles every day.