Acknowledgement to the Caravaners Forum for this thread on the dangers of refilling Generators while hot, including pics etc.  Too important not to repeat here, see;

http://www.caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5054 

Vic

Saw that too.

A timely warning to remember that petrol is very dangerous in liquid form and a potential disaster as a vapour.

It takes very little to ignite a petrol vapour/air mix, but it can make a very big bang.

I feel for the victims and their children.

Yes, I do too Rolly, not a very pleasant way to end a holiday.

Vic

-- Edited by Vic41 on Sunday 13th of September 2009 02:24:51 AM

Everyones nightmare.  "FIRE"
It would be beneficial  to us all to find out the sequence of events,  what actually happened to cause this fire.

 Looking at the pictures on the caravan website,  what appears to be a generator is on the ground between the Van and the 4x4.

The main fire does not appear to be centred around the gennie ?? 
Also if they had just arrived you would not expect the generator to be hot from use ?    
Awfull thing to happen.  I hope we can get the info on this incident as there are lessons for us all  here.   Especially brings it home to you  seeing the pictures of the fire.

Lets hope mum and dad recover well.  Also the kids,  it must  be excedingly  traumatic for them.

Think Safe and be Safe
Mike

I dont know how many times I have seen these photos, the description varies from "be aware of your gas lines" and "check your gas couplings" it turned out the actual cause was a fat fire caused through inattendance at the frypan the generator had nothing to do with it and there was no-one around at the time these types of photos will continue to be recycled through time immomorial there is far more danger from a leaky gas cylinder at the front of the van than there is by refilling a "hot" genny, many more vans have gone up through that than by any other means when was the last time any of us retightened our gas couplings, internal and external after a bumpy road

Dave, this incident only occurred a couple of days ago and the photo's are new and came from Banka Banks station park owners. 

See today's front page of the Territorian Newspaper;

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/09/13/84151_ntnews.html 

Vic


-- Edited by Vic41 on Sunday 13th of September 2009 12:18:07 PM

the same scenario has been played over and over again, if you look the genny is not even alight, it is standing in front of the van the seat of the fire is in the van

G'day Dave

Not sure where you got the information that it was a fat fire some time ago.

I had the original photos, taken by a staff member, emailed to me last night from BankaBanka Station.

These photos were taken only yesterday at BankBanka and the originals were emailed to me for the purpose of posting to the Caravan forum and I have seen the exif data on the photos confirming that they were taken yesterday. 

Looking at the photos it does appear that the generator is maybe not the original source of the fire.

I had some photos from the clare caravan park and a mate of mine had some from the mount barker van park, I seen a couple from the mount gambier park, all fake,

 however if yours is dinkum then so be it but I still say the genny is obviously not the source,  the seat of the fire is obviously central to the van and not from the front as would be suggested by where the genny is situated, obviously unharmed, your photos of a burning van and vehicle are obviousluy real but the source is not, regardless of where the photos eminated from, the ones that were sent to me were fake

different photos, same theme

these things get beat up, but I am very aware of fires eminating from gas bottles, I have witnessed this myself in the clare caravan park, it was an extremely frightening sight and of course with a gas fire there is nothing to be done

the genny is not the blame here, it is actually very rare to find a genny fire caused through hot gennys being refuelled, I have done it myself many times and I am still here to tell the tale

oh and before you fireys get up in arms dont forget I was a firey for quite a few years myself

to lose the van under these cirumstances is tragic enough without placing the blame in an innocent area regardless of where the photos come from but then to recycle these faulsitys into yet other forums is nothing short of ludicrous

spam by any other name

-- Edited by dave06 on Sunday 13th of September 2009 12:46:28 PM

Dave, you are way out of line here. The owners of Banka Banka station were the photographers and posters of these images. They are persons of good repute and not disposed to fantasy and fabrication. You could find yourself on the wrong end of a defamation case if you don't withdraw these comments and apologise.

the photos are not the same but the theory is still the same, out of line or not the source of the fire is obviously not the genny

Not minimising, maxamising, agreeing or disagreeing with anything on this topic BUT can't we PLEASE just agree to disagree and get on with things.  We have gone down a similar path as this a little while back and it didn't do any of us any good.

Please boys and girls..............lets just get on with it.

as for me I'm off to town to buy another camera tomorrow and we are off again, I'll leave the "discussions" up to you feller's, I much prefer travel

The NT newspaper article quotes a police statement saying that the fire was caused by fuel or fuel vapours from the filling can being ignited by the exhaust or words to that effect, I did notice what appears to be the generator in the photo appears untouched.

Seems we'll have to wait for the final results of the investigation and interview with the father to find out the facts. A sorry situation for all concerned, I am just glad there were no fatalities.

By the way, can anyone make out what type of caravan is involved, it looks like a Jayco Expander or Windsor with fold out beds at each end?

Vic

-- Edited by Vic41 on Sunday 13th of September 2009 03:00:03 PM

Thank Vic for bringing this post to the forum every now and then we need to realise the thing that can happen when we are on the road and stay has safe has we can, it good to see this post has had 130 visit which show our member want to be informed about what can happen if we dont follow safe procedures , kept theses helpfull messages coming terry

-- Edited by brickies on Sunday 13th of September 2009 05:14:56 PM

Anyone seen the TV news today.....a woman fulling a jerry can.didnt put it on ground....it sparked.....taking out her car and part of the petrol station http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=372193 Dave

Yes we saw it on the 6pm news here in Ulladulla.   Thankfully nobody hurt.  Didn't leave much of the vehicle and what a huge fire ball.

Thanks Terry, I think these things concern all of us and it is better to be informed of anything that could befall any of us who may not be so experienced in caravanning (especially me.....I am always learning from others). 

Thanks also to Delta18 for posting those pic's for Banka Banka on the CF forum. Another post on that thread about the gas can on the portable stove exploding was scary as well, something I will watch in future as I have one of them too.  Also thanks for clarifying what make of caravan that was (past tense).
 
I saw that about the static electricity and jerry can fire at the service station Smokey D, thanks for the link, I will have to plead guilty about not knowing about grounding the container when filling it up, I had heard about putting a hand on the vehicle to create an earth when filling the car up to get rid of any static electricity from the body, but the can is a new one on me.

Vic

It seems from the latest reports that the fire at Banka Banka started when ta fuel container was opened to release the pressure (it was jammed in the holder). Fuel sprayed out over the gent concerned and was inited by a gas fridge that was nearby. Cheers, Peter

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:

---

It seems from the latest reports that the fire at Banka Banka started when ta fuel container was opened to release the pressure (it was jammed in the holder). Fuel sprayed out over the gent concerned and was inited by a gas fridge that was nearby.

Cheers,
Peter

---

Yep, read the same report

 

Dave pull your head in you have the bull by the horns

up your nose with a garden hose, read what I wrote, still wasnt the genny was it!! different pictures same conclusion, I see it all the time

Good morning all

The below is a copy and paste (from another forum) of the comments by the owner of the caravan/vehicle fire at BankaBanka Station (I hope he doesn't mind that I've pasted his comments here) -


" Thank you for posting this. The incident in question was actually my caravan.
As said, I would put it down to a bad accident than stupidity.
To clarify, the jerry can that started it all was actually a steel army style can - the plastic jerry in the photo was on the other side and carrying diesel.
Initially I thought it was the exhaust however it was the fire brigade who suggested the little finch fridge pilot light.

I am very keen for others to learn from my experience.

1. On a hot day fumes travel a Long way.
2. Get contents insurance
3. Don't try and fight the fuel fire, the extinguisher was useless and the car diesel tanks, gas cylinders and other jerry can went up very fast. I am glad we ran when we did.
4. Expander caravans are a terrible fire hazard, the nylon ends burn very well, the photo you have all seen was take about 60 seconds after the fire started.

I would like to extend a special thanks to all of the NT people who helped us, they we truely amazing, donating money, time and effort to help. Banka Banka station staff were especially amazing.

The burns to my wife are painful but should heal well, I am in a little worse shap and am heading to the Burns Centre tomorrow for as assessment, I am in for a very painful month however - I have had to type this with my only working finger.

Scott "