Fierce A404 car fire 'like war film scene'

7:01pm Saturday 8th September 2012 in News By James Nadal

TYRES were exploding and metal parts popping off as a car was engulfed by a spectacular, fierce fire on the Marlow bypass described as being like something from a war film scene.

There was nobody to be seen in or anywhere near the wrecked car on the A404 when firefighters arrived last night about 9.45pm.

Police dogs were brought in to search but a driver could not be found, the fire service said.

The unattended vehicle was found by crews from Marlow and High Wycombe on the northbound carriageway between the Bisham roundabout and the Marlow exit in the slow lane.

Dan Green, High Wycombe fire station Crew Manager, said: “It was a very fierce fire when we got there.

“As we were arriving tyres were exploding and things like the gas struts which help the boot lift up and other parts were popping and exploding.

“Putting water on aluminium alloy enhances that part of the fire temporarily, like you would see in war films when you see big phosphorous sparks.

“It explodes like that, big molten white lumps of metal start flying out on impact of the water.

“It's quite a sight. There was only metal left (of the car), everything else was burnt off.”

The road was shut temporarily for safety.

Mr Green added: “Police were on the scene but there was no driver or owner.”

No more information from police about the owner has been available so far.

Comments(9)

delb88 says...
10:34pm Sat 8 Sep 12

"The unattended vehicle was found by crews from Marlow and High Wycombe on the northbound carriageway between the Bisham roundabout and the Marlow exit in the slow lane"

It isn't a 'slow lane', both the lanes are 'fast lanes', ie 70 mph.

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Sweet Angel says...
7:04am Sun 9 Sep 12

^^^ that's not strictly true, as the national speed limit on a dual carriageway depends on the class of vehicle and is as low as 50mph for goods vehicles exceeding 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight.

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Jill_Peterson says...
8:57am Sun 9 Sep 12

It's still not a 'slow lane'.

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friedeggplant says...
9:39am Sun 9 Sep 12

I think you'll find that vehicles in the left hand lane are generally overtaken by vehicles using the middle and/or right hand lane. Due to the laws of physics, overtaking necessitates that the overtaking vehicle has an increased velocity - i.e. is faster. Conversely the vehicle being overtaken (in the left hand lane) has a lower velocity - i.e. slower. Hopefully this may help you to understand why the left hand lane is commonly referred to as "the slow lane". If you still have doubts perhaps you could stand on a bridge over any dual carriageway and monitor the traffic. You will find that vehicles in the "slow lane" are generally slow (relative to the vehicles in the other lanes). Hope this helps.

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Robert.M says...
7:52am Mon 10 Sep 12

Try reading the highway code or driving the essential skills, and you will read that lane 1 is for normal driving, and that lanes 2 & 3 are for faster moving traffic,which is what I and other driving instructors teach our pupils,but in todays modern driving society it seems that most drivers drive in whatever lane they like

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HairyJohn says...
7:19pm Mon 10 Sep 12

It doesn't make it a slow lane. It's the inside lane and the other one, two or three are overtaking lanes.
People who tend to call it the slow lane are the sort to think 68mph isn't slow, and stick in the middle lane. And we all (should) know what chaos MLM's cause!
The sooner they introduce motorway driving as part of the driving test, the better.

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delb88 says...
12:21am Tue 11 Sep 12

I think this clears up any confusion...

http://tinyurl.com/c
nflw4e

....thanks to Neal.

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HairyJohn says...
8:36am Tue 11 Sep 12

Haha! Love it!

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Sweet Angel says...
10:16pm Tue 11 Sep 12

zomg! your schematic omits the all important motorcycle filter lane, which allows me to skim through traffic during busy periods. If more motorists were aware of this time consuming lane, myself and other users would be considerably safer during periods of heavy traffic.

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