The night disaster struck

Irish JK

Caught the Bug
We had a great day of jeeping up in Big Bear today. Ran Gold Mountain and John Bull and the 2010 JKUR performed flawlessly. We met some new friends out on the trail today enjoyed and headed home the 96 miles to Orange County.

As we were making the left turn into our neighborhood, I saw a large amount of flames coming up my driver side. I got across the street and immediately stopped, got the wife and myself out the passenger door and by the time we got away from it, not 60 seconds later the entire front end was engulfed. By the time the FD showed up with 6-7min, it was a total loss.

The FD ruled it an accident with an unknown cause, most likely a fuel line leak. We have no idea what happened and are in total shock. It really is emotionally taxing. Only a few short minutes later, and we would have pulled into our garage and gone inside. Had the fire waited just a few minutes, it easily could have been our entire home and quite literally our lives at stake.

Honestly, at this moment, as much as we have enjoyed Jeep Ownership, it is very difficult to see ourselves ever having one again. It more than likely is a immediate irrational overreaction, but honestly it has scared me straight to my core of just how close it could have been to costing me everything. It is not just jeeps but any modified vehicle I now feel is just too dangerous to have in my home.

It really was unbelievable just how fast and intense this fire spread. I can't even imagine....my god, friends we were wheeling with today had multiple children in car seats in the back. There is no way that within seconds you are getting multiple people clear.

In the short time I have been part of this forum, I have enjoyed what seems like a great group of guys (and gals), but it is just going to be so hard for us get past this emotionally not to even mention the physical damage of not being able to rebuild. IMG_4326.jpg IMG_4325.jpg IMG_4323.jpg IMG_4322.jpg
 

Charlie Mike

New member
Sorry to hear about your loss brother. I'm glad everyone is alright tho. Kinda hits close to home being from Orange County as well, and I too really enjoy a Big Bear run every now and then. Again, glad everyone is ok.
 

Ed Lapadura

New member
Was your jeep an automatic? I read somewhere of trans overheating and pumping fluid out of the dipstick onto the exhaust causing a burn like you described. Glad no one was hurt. Hope you were covered. :grayno:
 

mrmet1983

New member
Sorry to hear that but when people think things like this are just with jeeps that makes me angry. Many vehicle have fire problems and chances are you modded the hell out if ur jeep and I bet money can be traced back to being owners fault and bad installations

Just an example has a customers brand new jag catch fire with 1300 mikes in it so u leaky power steering line so it's not just a jeep problem

I don't always wheel , but when I do I keep it tight......... Stay dirty my friends.
 

MikeO

New member
Glad everybody is ok. I wouldn't let it discourage me from buying another Jeep. Same thing happened to me with a Maxima, ten minutes after I pulled up to my house. Luckily we only had street parking so no other damage.

Jeep on Jeep'n on......

Sent from my MB865 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 

sanman357

New member
The Chevy Volt also had a couple of problems. Bursting into flames weeks after the crash tests, in NHYSTA's lot. Damage those lithium polymer cells pressure and heat build till the cell bursts.
 

JKbrick

Active Member
Glad your safe first of all, can you buy it back cheap and rebuild? Someone else I've seen in a magazine or on here is rebuilding a burned jeep, I just can't recall who it is. Getting old sucks
 

Spartan

New member
Glad your ok, and like others have said it have happened to any vehicle at any time. Hope you feel better once the shock wears off.
 

mcpuck

Caught the Bug
I saw a large amount of flames coming up my driver side.

Sorry for your loss, but don't let that stop you from starting over and enjoying this WAYALIFE.

This year I had a fire that shot flames out the drivers side right behind the front tire. We were on the trail with the doors off so I saw it right away. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and had the fire out in seconds.
As some of you may recall, the trans line popped off the tranny and blew hot trans fluid onto the catalytic convertor and it ignited immediately. Fast action saved my rig from burning to the ground.
Thanks to Eddie's help we had the line securely back on, trans fluid topped off, and back on the trail in no time. Drove her from Moab home to OC.

You and your family are safe, which is by far the most important thing. I hope you decide to rebuild or replace and mark this down as a life-event experience! ;)
 

gtony12

Caught the Bug
:eek: sorry about the jeep. Great that your all ok. Dont hate the jeep could happen to any vehicle. Glad your ok.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 

Linebacker

Caught the Bug
Wow! Glad everyone is safe. I hope when the dust settles you'll decide to get back on the horse. All the best brother.:yup:
 

Panda

New member
Man very sad but glad you guys are safe yes this can happen to any car I saw a brand new jaguar burn to the ground on the side of the freeway dealer plate still on after reading this post I wanted to share the recall notice I received from Chrysler could this have happened to the 2010? They haven't contancted me with a fix yet but you guys with 2012's & 13's be aware! ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1382890931.672026.jpg
 

David1tontj

New member
Wow!! Sorry to hear about the jeep, but glad you are ok.

My brother was driving a newish (2010 I believe) fully loaded half million dollar motor home from big bear to Orange County... Long story short, he got to the toll booth on 241 at the top of the hill and the toll attendant told him he was on fire.... He was able to put the fire out ( with about 20 bottles of Kirkland water!! Haha) But it turns out that a squirrel had made a nest on top of the transmission and when going up the grade the tranny got hot and caught fire... Just saying... It can happen to any rig, for almost any reason.

I hope you don't get too discouraged about living your wayalife.


05 Tj, long arm, one ton, lockers, winches, 39.5" Iroks
 
It saddens me to hear about this still happening! Hopefully they get this problem fixed on automatics! Glad the family is safe. Take care!
 
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