WHAT SHOULD THE DRIVER HAVE DONE?
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With a Fire Burning in the Rear ot the Load, should the Driver have Driven on in the hope of Finding a Means for Extinguishing It? '
THE series of protographs reproduced on the next pageshow .the course of a fire occurring on a furniture van, almost from the beginning, and certainly to the end.' -Aftercexamining them and considering the story attaching to them, the reader may well try to answer the auestion as to what the driver -should have done in the circumstances.
The circumstances were these, and, as they are represented 'pictorially from a certain point in the story, the.illustrations can be referred to as' the circumstances are recounted. A vanload of furniture was being transported from Edinburgh to . Newcastle, and a little way north of Alnwick an A.A. cyclist scout noticed, as the van went past him, that smoke was' coming from the rear of the vehicle. The scout pedalled, after t the van for three miles and caught it up when the vehicle slowed down en a rising stretch of road The driver, being told that.the load was on fire, at once stopped; applied 'his brake, and got down, 'and then, of 'course, stood helplessly by: The flames. at .once poured. out and enveloped the backaof the van, and, a few moments later, the vehicle began to run backwards. Either the heat had expanded'the.brake drums or consumed the brake blocks. The driver had stopped with his steering wheels over at nearly full lock, so that, when B30
the vehicle ran backwards, it slewecl on to the narrow grass strip bordering the road, and stopped, stretching two-thirds of the way across the fairway.
The heat was intense, and the driver, scout and other spectators from cars and cycles which had stopped, kept well away, as is indicated in the first and second photographs, because of the expected explosion of the petrol tank. When the tank. exploded, as is depicted in illustration No. 3, there was a great rush of flame and a roar. The photographer was now no longer afraid to approach closer to the scene, and then he secured photograph No. 4. The A.A. scout and the driver are in the group to the right, whilst in the middle distance is a car the driver of which had waited until the petrol tank had exploded and then, piling on all speed, went past, despite the heat. The photographer now also went by andtsecured the photograph reproduced at No. 5, which shows the debris of the van body and the furniture toppling off the chassis into the roadway.`This illustration also shows that the near side of the bonnet had been lifted, no doubt by the driver directly he stopped, for he could not have got to it afterwards.
An attempt was now madeeto get the vehicle to the side of the_road, so as to clear the roadway' to 'some extent. Another van backed down to the spot
and, a rope being attached, the chassis was drawn away, as is indicated in illustration No. 6. The white smoke here is from the exhaust of the van that is hauling, the black smoke coming from the burning van. In illustration No. 7, the chassis is seen just below the cottage chimney, swinging round (for the wheels are still at full lock) in. a circle away from the mass of burning debris which is on the right of the picture,, whilst, in thelast illustration, it is seen again to the side of the road, a helper pulling the steering wheels straight. Below the hauling rope some furniture, nearly destroyed, is seen on the roadside, whilst, hanging from the rear end of the offside frame member, are the remnants of a washing machine. The near-side rear tyre is off and is still burning, -which accounts for the black smoke atilt]; rising from the wreck. The cause of the fire is not known.
The question arises : What should the driver have done? Circumstanced as he was, one cannot blame him for stopping and getting away from the blaze as quickly as he could, but it was fortunate that he had swung the steering wheels over to full lock, or, when the brakes gave way, the vehicle must have run backwards down the gradient, and, whatever might have resulted, it was better, if the van was doomed, that it should burn out on the open road. But could not the driver have driven en, sending the A.A. scout before him to the nearest fire-engine Station, and the van drawing up beside the most convenient hydrant ? Of course, that is asking a lot, It assumes a fire-brigade station but a few miles away., a pumping crew capable of being readily assembled, and a hydrant in a spot where there was ,no likelihood of damage being done to adjacent property by the blazing van or by an explosion of the petrol tank, as must be expected. But, in view of the
fact that the roads are gradually being used more and more for the transport of loads of a readily inflammable nature, it does seem as if there is a need for hydrants to be erected at intervals, say, every 10 miles or so, and for a motordriven fire pump, capable of being operated by, say, two men, to be .available for instant despatch, the burning vehicle being intercepted at a spot where water could be obtained.
Tho plan would not be in.fallible, but would, at least, offer some hope of say ing a vehicle and its load, or part thereof. Knowing that he was sitting over a tank of petrol, the driver would need to have perfect confidence that the rush of the wind was keeping the flames towards the rear of the vehicle, or he could not retain his seat.
We would certainly like to know what drivers think is their duty, and what would be a sound and reasonable courSe to follow should they ever find themselves in such a predicament as has been ontline'd.