Posted on Sat, Oct 20, 2012 : 5:54 p.m.
Car's engine catches fire as motorist drives along Ann Arbor street
By Cindy Heflin
A fire burns in the engine compartment of a car near Miller Avenue and First Street Saturday afternoon.
Photo courtesy of Ann Arbor Fire Department
A man was driving a Volvo east on Miller Avenue near First Street on the west side of Ann Arbor about 3 p.m. when he saw smoke coming from the engine compartment, said Ann Arbor Fire Department battalion chief Robert Vogel. The motorist pulled over into a nearby driveway.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
The cause is unknown. No one was injured.
View Car fire 102012 in a larger map
Comments
JPLewis
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 1:23 p.m.
Any information on the driver?
Barzoom
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 11:50 a.m.
So much for Volvo's reputation for safety & reliability.
Dcam
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 2:46 p.m.
Of course, that Volvo may have been built when Ford owned Volvo (1999-2010) - now it's Chinese owned.
Useless
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 3:22 a.m.
How is it that the fire department had time to take a picture of the fire. There is no fire equipment in the photo?
JPLewis
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 1:24 p.m.
I imagine they have cameras on the trucks and the picture was taken as they pulled up. Just a guess.
djacks24
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 2:29 a.m.
Regular maintenance keeps things like that from happening. So many people choose to ignore maintenance their vehicle and insist in driving their cars until they leave themselves broke down or in this case...
Mike D.
Mon, Oct 22, 2012 : 3:45 a.m.
What neglected maintenance would lead to an engine fire? Most vehicle fires are caused by electrical issues, which generally aren't impacted by maintenance.
mady
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 5 p.m.
real nice djacks, kick the man when he's down!! remember, karma can be prety nasty
jns131
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 4:12 p.m.
Actually a leak in the engine area combined with a spark from the spark plugs and/or ignition can make something go big boom.
DennisP
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 2:42 a.m.
Hmmm. You don't know that. The car in the picture isn't old or in poor condition. Also, it's not unheard of for many late model cars to have signficant problems--perhaps, rare, but they can occur: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/volvo_fires.html Ford had a big problem with its cruise control system a few years back causing significant fires. It had to recall many vehicles. So, I wouldn't jump to this kind of conclusion. In fact, I'd say that a vehicle should almost NEVER catch on fire when simply being driven--even if it doesn't see routine maintenance for 10 years. Products and engineering can and do make that possible. Whenever a car ignites like that, especially a late-model unit, someone should be checking the quality of the product and its design right away.
MI Farmer
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 1:09 a.m.
I don't understand why cars with gas engines don't come equipped with fire extinguisher, but over the road semi trucks, that run on diesel have to have them. Last time I check gas vapor is flammable?
jns131
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 4:11 p.m.
School buses do. I happened upon a huge accident. Luckily for me I did not need to stop and use it. Would be a first for me.
talker
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 12:23 a.m.
Since fires can occur in vehicles and since we have local and visiting vehicles here, that's another reason to restore the number of local firefighters.
Ron Granger
Tue, Oct 23, 2012 : 2:46 p.m.
And yet it sounds like they handled this Just Fine. The sky did not fall and is not falling. It isn't like more firefighters could have prevented the volvo from catching fire.
smokeblwr
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 : 12:48 a.m.
Meh.....not convincing enough.
ferdcom
Sat, Oct 20, 2012 : 10:59 p.m.
WOW!!!!