FedEx Trucks Have History Of Catching Fire: It Could Explain Why No Brakes Were Applied Before Thursday’s Truck/Bus Accident
The deadly crash between a FedEx truck and the bus that was full of California high school students is not the first incident of a FedEx truck on fire.
On Friday in Corte Madera, Calif. – just one day after the deadly accident along I-5 highway that took the lives of 10 people – a driver for a smaller FedEx truck witnessed smoke emanating from the cargo area. He drove the vehicle to the back of a parking lot, by which time the cargo area was completely engulfed.
Fire investigators think it could be a chemical reaction or electrical malfunction that caused that fire. The truck had been carrying chemicals, but none of them looks to have leaked.
But, this isn’t the only other incident.
Sometime mid-February, a FedEx truck made a pickup in Texas that also caught fire. Later in February, a tractor trailer rig for FedEx was engulfed in flames and completely destroyed on I-81 in Virginia. In March near Park City, Utah, some parts of I-80 were shut down because a FedEx truck had caught on fire.
It may be a matter of coincidence but according to witnesses, the FedEx tractor-trailer crossed the median and into the bus had flames coming out before the crash that killed the bus driver, the truck driver, five of the high school students and three chaperones.
Joe and Bonnie Duran were in front of the bus in a Nissan Altima when the truck barreled across the median and side-swiped their vehicle before it struck the bus.
Bonnie said she looked left and saw the truck coming right at her at an angle. She said there was no way she would outrun the vehicle so she turned right and it hit her. Bonnie said the truck was in flames when it came across the median – not like it was completely engulfed but wrapping around the truck.
The investigation into the accident is just starting but a fire such as this might suggest the truck driver was overcome by chemical fumes or smoke, which might explain why he did not apply the brakes at any point. There was no skid marks from the truck. The cargo has yet to be determined. It’s not known if chemicals were on board.
According to federal investigators, there has been no evidence found to support the Duran’s account of the truck being on fire before the accident. Mark Rosekind with the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators have not ruled a pre-impact fire out, but that there is no physical evidence to suggest that at the crash scene.
Investigators are having a hard time trying to learn if there was indeed a fire before the impact because the truck is a mangled bus and the bus was gutted by the fire. Rosekind said investigators are going to look at the blood tests to determine if the driver of the FedEx truck breathed in smoke before the accident or if he was impaired in any way.
A blood test is also being done on the bus driver. He had been behind the wheel for a short time after taking the place for another driver in Sacramento. Rosekind said the bus skidded for 145 feet before the impact. The driver applied the brakes and swerved right to avoid the collision.
The NTSB will look to see if a barrier should be constructed to prevent any other head-on collisions. Barriers are needed for medians that are no more than 50 feet wide. The median along I-5 is 60 feet wide.
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Hauling double trailers is inherently dangerous even for levelheaded and experienced drivers.
Here we have a 32 year old who “had only been driving a short time after relieving another driver during a stop in Sacramento.”
Who in God’s sake put this fellow behind the wheel, all in a big hurry to pass a slower van ahead of him?
Wanna know what it’s like to drive a semi?
An old driver said it’s like walking while steadying a pan full of water. Hauling double trailers is like steadying two pans — each with a mind of its own.
No abrupt changes; more like sailing than driving.
No problem going straight — so long as you don’t look in the mirrors and get dizzy by the trailers wavering back and forth.
But if you’ve gotta stop, you’ll need lots of room.
And if you end up in the grassy median, you might need to stay on the gas to get things under control.
Before you know it you’re on the other side of the road broadsiding a bus full of kids.
Inherently dangerous, indeed.