Luton Airport Car Park Fire

[Vixen]

Luton Airport Car Park No.2 was destroyed a few days ago when a Range Rover suddenly caught fire as it was driving in. Miraculously the driver managed to escape despite the rapid spread of the fire across the floors and ceiling up to the next level. Thankfully only five people were injured, mostly with smoke inhalation.

It is thought the fire started with a diesel-powered vehicle "and then that fire has quickly and rapidly spread", said Andrew Hopkinson, Bedfordshire's chief fire officer.
While the exact number of cars damaged or destroyed is not yet known, Mr Hopkinson said: "There is a substantial number [of cars] that are not damaged."
There is no suggestion the blaze happened intentionally.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67077996

Whilst the police confirm the vehicle in question was a diesel car, there has been much speculation and arguing on social media that the car ‘must have been an EV or Hybrid’ as ‘only a lithium battery would explode like that’.

Someone else has identified the car from its number plates as being a diesel 2014 Land Rover sports model. The issue is that people do not believe that diesel is particularly combustible. Plus the flames seem to spread out from underneath the passenger side ‘indicating an EV battery issue’.

Some seem to believe that police are playing down the EV angle because they do not want to ruin the EV-car market.

For example:

“I can remember car parks exploding and bursting into flames long before electric vehicles were invented…NOT #LutonAirport” https://x.com/Iromg/status/1712093115148882169?s=20

 

[Nessie]

We have now booked our car into an open airport car park for next year's holiday.

 

[The Don]

Seems about right for a conspiracy theory - the thing that proves beyond doubt that it was an EV is all the evidence to the contrary.

For some reason, people find EVs scary.

The worst I have found Mrs Don's is mildly inconvenient if we have to charge on a longer journey. Clearly I'm too Woke and part of the Deep State EV lobby.

 

[zooterkin]

EVs are the least likely to catch fire (hybrids are the most likely), but if they do burn, there isn't much the fire brigade can to to put them out (according to my son, a firefighter).

 

[Mojo]

Whilst the police confirm the vehicle in question was a diesel car, there has been much speculation and arguing on social media that the car ‘must have been an EV or Hybrid’ as ‘only a lithium battery would explode like that’.

Someone else has identified the car from its number plates as being a diesel 2014 Land Rover sports model. The issue is that people do not believe that diesel is particularly combustible. Plus the flames seem to spread out from underneath the passenger side ‘indicating an EV battery issue’.

Perhaps it was being used to smuggle nuclear waste, which then exploded via elementary chemistry.

Has the possibility that it was rammed by a submarine been ruled out?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

As if cars never caught fire before lithium batteries.

Electrical fires happen, unrelated to any EV or hybrid batteries.

Stuff stored in the vehicle can start a fire.

Squirrels can stuff an engine compartment full of pine cones and other material including dry leaves they might build a nest with.


Just sayin'.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

have we ruled our Jewish Space Lasers yet ?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Have we had diesel fires can't melt steel yet?

But seriously yes, there was lots of speculation it must have been an EV fire so it's good to get an update that it wasn't and a reminder that car fires do just happen and always have.

 

[jeremyp]

While the exact number of cars damaged or destroyed is not yet known, Mr Hopkinson [Bedfordshire's chief fire officer] said: "There is a substantial number [of cars] that are not damaged."

Did he say that before or after the car park collapsed?

What surprises me is how quickly the fire spread after it started. Maybe there was a fuel leak that spread burning diesel everywhere.

 

[Andy_Ross]

The police and fire brigade are covering up that it was an EV and blaming it on a diesel car.
It's part of the war on the motorist apparently.

 

[Nessie]

Next a multi-storey car park will collapse under the weight of all the EVs.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Next a multi-storey car park will collapse under the weight of all the EVs.

At least this construction was new so will (presumably) have taken modern car weights into consideration, unlike stuff built in the 1960s when everyone drove Morris Minors. But it seems to be a steel framed structure with no sprinkler system, which in hindsight looks like a mistake.

 

[Beerina]

So the fire chief did a terrible job determining what type of vehicle it was, and why it happened?

 

[Andy_Ross]

So the fire chief did a terrible job determining what type of vehicle it was, and why it happened?

He's part of the conspiracy.

 

[malbui]

Clearly the smoke detectors hadn’t been tuned properly.

 

[Disbelief]

Couldn't have been much of a fire, can't get very high temps outside of a laboratory.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

As if cars never caught fire before lithium batteries.

Electrical fires happen, unrelated to any EV or hybrid batteries.

Stuff stored in the vehicle can start a fire.

Squirrels can stuff an engine compartment full of pine cones and other material including dry leaves they might build a nest with.


Just sayin'.

One of the most common causes of car fires used to be still lit cigarette butts thrown from other cars & hitting the radiator grill of a car behind, add paper from litter or dry leaves, maybe a little oil & plenty of airflow & Bob's your Uncle.

I remember seeing a car by the side of the road smoking or on fire (or roadside grass fires, also often caused by cigarettes) being not common, but definitely something you saw from time to time. The reduction in smoking in general, and it's pretty much total banning in company & hire vehicles, not to mention general changes in vehicle design that reduce the chances of fire from this reason & the ones you mentioned do mean it's pretty rare now.

I guess people just forget, or for people who started driving more recently it's never been a thing the same way it was for us then.

 

[Vixen]

Seems about right for a conspiracy theory - the thing that proves beyond doubt that it was an EV is all the evidence to the contrary.

For some reason, people find EVs scary.

The worst I have found Mrs Don's is mildly inconvenient if we have to charge on a longer journey. Clearly I'm too Woke and part of the Deep State EV lobby.

People are resistant to change. I dare say in the early part of last century, people were saying, 'I b'ain't be giving up my horse and carriage. There b'ain't be no power like horse power'.

There is a lot of ignorance amongst the public about EV's. Whilst the majority of the public are merely change-resistance, the remainder can be divided into three basic groups:

1. Those, like yourself, eager to try out the latest gadget and with plenty of money to afford it, for reasons because it makes sense; in this case, environmental sense.
2. Those with a wait-and-see attitude who let the early aforesaid adopters point out the flaws and need-for-improvements and for the price to come down, first, before buying, themselves.
3. the old anti-vaxx brigade who see everything as a 'woke' campaign to force everyone to become green and conformist, and to put profits into the coffers of Bill Gates and/or Tesla. These include those who claim, 'We'll soon be overrun by Chinese EV's'.

I myself settled on a hybrid as I wanted a new car but wasn't sure about the practicalities of an EV and the substantially higher price. Plus I wanted a sporty little number that went vroom-vroom, not something with 'just one gear'. A little bit change resistant, too.

 

[Vixen]

As if cars never caught fire before lithium batteries.

Electrical fires happen, unrelated to any EV or hybrid batteries.

Stuff stored in the vehicle can start a fire.

Squirrels can stuff an engine compartment full of pine cones and other material including dry leaves they might build a nest with.


Just sayin'.

In the past couple of years I've seen two roadside vehicle fires. One was a car with the bonnet open and thick black smoke coming out, the other, a motorbike likewise, thick smoke.

But neither burst into flames as spectacularly as the car in the Luton CCTV video. I am guessing the guy had some kind of electrical fault and possibly a fuel leak. It'll be interesting to understand the reason for it bursting into flames like that.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

In this case it was a diesel vehicle and it caught fire while driving into the car park. Chances are it was an electrical fire initially rather than a fuel fire. Diesels are typically less of a fire hazard than petrol models. (The warehouse at my workplace specifically bars petrol engined vehicles from entering but allows diesels.)