Vehicle fire
A vehicle fire is the fire of a car , truck , bus or a motorized two-wheeler. Vehicle fires are very dangerous because people can still be in the vehicle and, in addition, many building materials (plastic parts, tires, etc.) occur as breath poisons when burned in the smoke . Around 15,000 cars burn down on Germany's roads every year. If minor damage caused by scorching etc. is also taken into account, the figure is around 40,000 cars per year.
causes
A vehicle fire can have various causes:
- as a result of a traffic accident : the fire does not have to start here immediately. Leaking fuel or damaged batteries can start a fire. It should therefore be considered to disconnect the car battery after an accident in order to make the vehicle currentless. However, this should not be done if this is the safeguarding measures such as B. would affect the hazard warning lights .
- Damaged batteries in electric vehicles.
- Brakes that overheat during long downhill journeys or due to a technical defect can trigger a vehicle fire. Therefore, you should shift down when driving uphill or let the brakes cool down in between.
- through damaged car tires : this usually occurs with twin tires on trucks. Due to the large number of wheels, you don't notice a tire damage as quickly as with a car . Low air pressure in the tires can also cause the tire to heat up and eventually catch fire.
- Damaged or overloaded cables can scorch a complete cable harness and lead to a cable fire.
- from leaking gasoline . The fuel runs out and can ignite on hot parts in the engine compartment and on the exhaust.
- through vandalism
- Design errors / defects (example)
- Assembly errors in vehicle production (example)
Immediate action
As with all dangerous situations, self- protection and the protection of human life have top priority. In addition to the flames and the heat, the smoke gases in particular pose considerable dangers. In addition, protection against hazards from and for the following traffic must be observed.
Provided that self-protection is ensured, an incipient fire can often be prevented by simple means, e.g. B. car fire extinguishers or fire blankets from the accident or following vehicles can be successfully fought. In the time before the fire brigade arrives, the fire can quickly develop into a full fire, which they can hardly fight with more than one narrowing down on the vehicle. This then often burns down completely.
In the event of a truck fire, there is still a certain time to react due to the size of the vehicle and the often slow spread of the fire at the beginning. Under certain circumstances, this can be used to bring the vehicle to a suitable place where there are less flammable objects or where fewer people are at risk. In addition, reaching over from the trailer to the tractor can be prevented by the driver uncoupling the trailer in good time. In the event of fires, which often occur in the area of the tires, driving slowly on can also ensure that the burning tire falls off the vehicle and the fire cannot spread unhindered upwards while standing.
In the case of car fires, analyzes carried out by the insurers' accident research department (UDV) of real accidents have shown that after an accident, the fire usually spreads from the engine compartment to the interior. The origin of the fire is mostly due to leaked operating fluids (petrol, oil) which then ignite on hot vehicle parts. Short circuits in the wiring harness can also cause a fire. In order to obtain more detailed information about the course of the fire, the UDV took part in a series of fire tests, the aim of which was to simulate accident scenarios as real as possible and to investigate the actual course of the fire. The results of the fire tests: The course of the fire after an accident, in particular its rate of spread, depends on many factors (e.g. the amount of operating fluids that have leaked, weather conditions at the scene of the accident), but the following characteristic features emerge:
- the fire spreads relatively slowly in the first few minutes, so it takes 5 to 10 minutes for the smoke and flames to reach the interior
- the vehicle tank does not explode.
- there is no significant difference in the course of the fire between an accident and a non-accident vehicle.
Dealing with burning electric vehicles poses new challenges for breakdown services and fire brigades. B. much more water is required for extinguishing. Chemical reactions can take place in lithium-ion accumulators , which require a special refrigerated container for transport. Cooling and extinguishing water are particularly heavily polluted and require special treatment before they enter the sewer system. In addition, the proper disposal of electric vehicle wrecks after they have been extinguished is currently problematic. However, if the vehicle burns down, the battery does not necessarily catch fire.
Contrary to what is shown in some feature films, there are hardly any explosions in reality . The popping noises that can often be heard come from bursting tires or parts of the load, as well as airbag gas generators triggered by heat. However, this can also result in considerable dangers for bystanders, rescue workers or flowing traffic.
frequency
Every year around 15,000 combustion engines burn down on Germany's roads. If minor damage caused by scorching etc. is also taken into account, the figure is around 40,000 cars per year.
From a statistical point of view, electric vehicles have so far burned significantly less than combustion engines. Depending on the statistics, 20–40 times less. The fire risk, however, always correlates with the age of cars and therefore no meaningful data are available for the still young electric cars.
Prevention of further dangers
The dangers of vehicle fires are of various kinds:
- The smoke development often leads to secondary accidents as a result of distraction.
- often too few or no portable fire extinguishers are available.
- the first measures are not carried out for fear of explosions, as described above.
- Due to a lack of practice, the small extinguishing agents of a hand-held fire extinguisher are often insufficient to fight the fire in the early stages.
- the fire can damage the braking system, causing the vehicle to start moving on sloping terrain. In rare cases, a short circuit can cause the engine to start by itself and the vehicle to drive off. If the burning vehicle collides with other objects, the risk of the fire spreading is very high.
In order to keep the consequences of a vehicle fire as low as possible, there are therefore always efforts to expand the law that , similar to first aid training , basic instruction on the initial measures in the event of a vehicle fire should also take place in the driver's license training . In addition, like the first- aid kit , a fire extinguisher should also be carried. In some countries this is already the case today.
But automatic extinguishing systems, such as those already in use in Formula I vehicles, are also being considered.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ VW's image in the US suffers a serious setback . In: Handelsblatt, October 7, 2011, accessed on November 19, 2019.
- ↑ https: //www.kfz-ruecklösungen.de/audi-rueckruf-reifen-kraftstoffleitung-und-zusatzheizer/5585/
- ↑ ADAC TruckService advises: React correctly to adac.de in the event of a truck fire
- ↑ Breakdown services have to upgrade because of electric cars. In: 20min.ch . October 18, 2019, accessed October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Rainer Klose: How dangerous are burning electric cars? In: empa.ch . August 17, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
- ↑ E-car wrecks: Flammable hazardous waste. In: orf.at. November 13, 2019, accessed November 19, 2019 .
- ↑ E-car wrecks: Burned down Tesla from Tyrol: Experts make astonishing discovery on the battery. November 25, 2019, accessed December 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Fire hazard: If the vehicle catches fire . In: dekra-solutions.com , November 22, 2017.
- ↑ Do electric cars really burn more often than diesel and gasoline engines? , Wirtschaftswoche, accessed on September 8, 2019
- ↑ Electric car is on fire at the post office: It was the third incident , Focus Online, January 10, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020.