Wrecked 97 Ford Ex. caught on fire, smelled no gas. Ran over chain link fence 2x. What, up thru caused fire?

Question

He was run off road by a drunk driver. He ran thru a chain link fence and came out other end of fence. He said it felt like the power steering went out, because he could not steer ir properly and hit fence,.Truck caught on fire and completely burned up. What could have caused fire? He never smelled gas, it started smoking and within 30 sec it was on fire. He was still in vehicle. Seat belt would not open and air bag had opened. Flames were coming from under dash ,up thru the console inside the truck. His legs received 1st and 2nd degree burns. He finally jerked hard enough seat belt came loose and he crawed out window. Did running over fence cause something underneath cause fire? Police nor Fire Dept could figure how fire started.

Answer 1

Chances are going through the fence tore up the fuel lines underneath the vehicle. Fuel sprayed all over the hot exhaust system and caught fire. Happened fast enough your friend didn't really have time to smell the vapors. The fact your friend lost the power steering makes me think hydraulic lines were also damaged.

Once everything's all burned up and melted it's pretty hard to figure out the cause. Damage to the electrical system also could've started the fire...but for it to have spread that fast leaking fuel had to be involved.

Your friend was lucky it wasn't worse. In the future it would be a good idea to get one of those handy glass breaker/seat belt cutting tools and keep it in your car. It can be a real life saver in just such an emergency.

Answer 2

The fuel lines on today's vehicles are made of plastic and the fence broke the lines.....

Answer 3

Only three things are needed for fire.  Fuel, air, and ignition.  There were plenty of ignition points from running over the chain link fence and air was no problem at all.  What was the fuel is the only thing to be determined.  It takes relatively little oil, gasoline (from a ruptured fuel line), or dry grass and or weeds to provide some fuel.  There are then plenty of things on the vehicle that will burn.  

  So, to answer your question.  I don't know.  :)