A motorhome towing a car has been destroyed by fire on a major Sydney motorway.
Two people escaped the vehicles unharmed, including a 60-year-old man who was treated for smoke inhalation.
The incident happened Just after 11.30am today on the northbound lane of the M1 in Mt Colah, about 1km north of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase Rd.
The NT News reports that four Fire & Rescue trucks arrived at the scene to find the van well alight on the middle embankment, with thick black smoke billowing out of the structure.
The fire spread from the vehicles onto the embankment, but fire crews managed to tamp it down using water and foam.
The drama sparked massive traffic tailbacks but both north and southbound lanes on the M1 have now re-opened, but traffic delays are expected to continue for some time.
Two Fire & Rescue NSW trucks and four Rural Fire Service tankers remained at the scene of the fire for a while after the incident.
It is not yet known how the blaze ignited.
Driver did very well to get off the road and onto the embankment.
So sad
Hope they are all ok.
I was doing my first solo trip, for the year and left Sydney that day. Luckily I had past this site earlier in the day, with 600 kms to go to return to the Nth Rivers. Possibly if I was caught up in this awful event ( for the driver and passenger) I may have been looking for a campsite for the night, due to the extensive delays. So glad no one hurt.
I would really like to know more on how this started, as we have a motorhome towing a car.
Causes can range between short circuit, poor wiring, gas left on, wear and tear, handbrake left on (been there!!!) poor irregular maintenance, inadequate wiring quality in installations or just a simple incident. Regular professional checkups are mandatory particularly by the majority of owners that likely have limited knowledge of technical standards.
That was our motorhome We believe the turbo spit the dummy.
Apparently …… it was a blown turbo that started the fire!
I have been told, quite common in trucks although it’s the first I have heard of.
That was us and yes we believe it was the turbo. According to Isuzu very rate.
The initial video showed fire under the motorhome and it was close to the timber barrier on the left of the freeway, the car was not on fire at this stage, there was no one on board at this stage, then the motorhome and car rolled by themselves across the 3 lanes and crashed into the wire centre barrier and continued to burn until both the van and car were completely destroyed. Glad both people were ok apart from 1 with smoke ingestion. It’s a shame the car couldn’t be disconnected before the fire was too great. It could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the safety barrier between the north and south bound sides of the freeway. The news media only gave half of the incident.