Transit bus fire in Seattle

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CHamilton

CHamilton

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This is local news, but some of the bus experts here may be interested.

Bus fire on I-5 creates 10 mile backup
011113+Bus+Fire+1.JPG


Credit: KING

A Sound Transit bus caught fire in the Interstate 5 express lanes in Seattle, Jan. 11, 2013.

A Sound Transit bus caught fire in the Interstate 5 express lanes in north Seattle Friday, creating a backup of at least 10 miles southbound and another backup northbound.
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Seattle Transit Blog adds:

It looks to be one of the new-ish DE60LFs that have been coming in.
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Transit bus burns on Interstate 5 in SeattleSEATTLE —

Sound Transit says Friday's frigid temperatures and frozen water in a brake line could be to blame for a bus fire on Interstate 5 in north Seattle.

Spokeswoman Kimberly Reason says the cause of the fire is under investigation but it could have been caused by frozen brakes that overheated.

The driver noticed a problem, pulled over and safely evacuated about 70 passengers, including a woman in a wheelchair.

Reason says there's no official estimate of the loss, but the bus costs nearly $700,000 new.
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At least nobody died, but that is sure an very expensive bus! It's a New Flyer DE60LFR. I saw those around Seattle. They have the older DE60LFs, too. It's a Diesel-Electric 60' Low Floor Restyled. Maybe it's the "Electric" part that's the problem.
 
State Patrol detectives found the fire was mechanical. Atchison said friction from a locked brake likely sparked the fire, but Sound Transit will officially determine the nature of the mechanical failure.
"It could be any number of things — for example, it's possible moisture in the brake lines could have caused the brakes to freeze, which would have caused enough friction between the brake pad and brake drum to create the conditions that led to the fire," Reason wrote in an email.
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http://seattletimes....busfire12m.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK, so the obvious thing to point out is that buses operate in sub-freezing temperatures all the time without

bursting into flames during rush hour. If moisture in the brake line caused the brake to lock up and start a fire,

then the root of the problem would seem to be whatever allowed the moisture to enter the brake line in the first

place. I.E. some sort of tear, or a compromised seal, or whatever (I'm not a bus mechanic, obviously.)
 

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