A caravan has burst into flames and been completely destroyed on the Pacific Highway near Kempsey on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
The Macleay Argus newspaper reports that the caravan was already well ablaze by the time firefighters arrived at the scene near the Inches Road overpass yesterday morning. The fire was encroaching on the four-wheel drive that had been towing the van before it was extinguished.
By that time however the flames had spread to nearby grassland which resulted in a large grass fire along the highway.
The Pacific Highway northbound lanes were closed for a short period while the fires were
The caravan was completely destroyed. PIC: Macleay Argus
being extinguished and traffic was diverted at Macleay Valley Way
Police also attended the scene and carried out traffic control.
The cause of the caravan fire is now under investigation.
* Comment below
Every caravaners nightmare…!
Id be interested to find out the cause…?
Glad the tow vehicle was saved.
Hope the insurance covers…but personal possesions probably lost.
Maybe towing with a gas fridge operating?
Sad for the owners, good no one was injured.
Shirley that would be my bet that the fridge was running on gas
Just FYI,
All fridges have flame failure devices which means if the flame is on, it’s burning at a little burner which is too far from anything flammable , if it’s not burning the gas shuts off automatically.
That said NEVER TRAVEL WITH THE FRIDGE RUNNING ON GAS. The people at your next service station fill up will be forever grateful.
Caravanmart in Townsville told me to drive with the gas on as the fridge won’t start for another 10 mins after the motor has stopped running. So when l go to a servo the fridge will not light on gas. Did l listen to him?? No I did not
Has linseed oil been used lately, and rags stowed.
We always carry a fire extinguisher under the front passenger seat.
I wouldn’t rely on one of those little 1kg extinguishers. A bit like charging hell with a bucket of water. Tried one on a car fire and may as well not wasted my time. Didn’t touch it.
I’d be interested in cause …. I carry 2 extinguishers 1 x car 1 x van … in this case I doubt the van one would be of use
Hate seeing these types stories. Scary= caravan bursts into flames or overturns. Why? No further information. Could be any one of a hundred things. So, what did we learn? How did seeing it further my knowledge or make me a safer driver? It didn’t. It just scared a few people.
More and more, I choose to not open this site. It doesn’t add value to my morning…
News is news … but I suppose we could always learn to refuse to read it …but no good to hide your head in the sand … I say … be prepared and inform yourself
Turn you gas off!
Wheel bearings?
My thoughts exactly Dean. A shot wheel bearing or a sticky brake calliper will do it for sure. And no small extinguisher is enough once it goes.
As the operator of a remote roadhouse I was astounded at the number of ignorant people driving with gas fridges running. Used to refuse service until they moved away from Bowsers and turned the gas off. Lost customers but didn’t get blown up either
More likely a failure in the 12v onboard power. I had overheat issue a while back. Fuse did not blow, as was not drawing excess power.
Just saw bearings comment. Also likely.
The caravan sized tyre that had freshly exploded all over the road a few kilometers before the incident may be a clue as to what happened. One disadvantage of fibreglass composite vans – it went up very quickly.
I drove past this van just after it and another vehicle had pulled over. The smoke appeared to be coming from the back left wheel area, my first thought was ‘ oops wheel bearings plus the blown tire but then I’m a mere female so could be wrong Glad no one was hurt.
Speculation into the cause of this particular incident is useful from the point of view of general safety. However, I hope the investigation report does become public so that we can all learn from the actual cause.