Every year RVers inadvertently become Smokey Bear’s enemies and cause brush fires. We’re not talking about leaving an abandoned campfire. We’re talking about your rig accidentally starting a brush fire. Like this man, whose blown tire caused 7 wildfires in Colorado.
Don’t be like him! Here are six ways to prevent your RV from starting a brush fire.
The cause of brush fires and how RVs can start them
1. Let’s begin the chain
You probably caught the hint already. Do you tow a travel trailer or pop-up? The safety chains you hook up to keep your trailer safe in the event of a hitch-disconnect can be unsafe in themselves.
When hooking up safety chains, don’t just check to make sure they’re crossed over, make sure they aren’t too long. If a safety chain drags the pavement, it can spark and start a fire.
Safety chains should be long enough to allow the tow vehicle/trailer combination to make a turn, but NOT so long they could drag. DO NOT twist safety chains to shorten them up. Twisting the chain actually weakens it. A dramatic demonstration showed that a 1/4” safety chain kept “straight” and put under pressure wouldn’t break until 6,686 pounds of torque were put on it. Twisted, the same chain broke at 1,653 pounds.
2. Look underneath
Before pulling out, stoop down and look underneath both your RV and your tow vehicle. Things can come loose: mufflers, running board struts, assorted junk. If something is hanging down, you run the risk of it eventually dragging on the pavement. This simple check can prevent your RV from starting a brush fire.
3. Keep off the grass!
Drive your motorhome or tow vehicle onto dry grass or brush, bad things can happen. Hot exhaust pipes, mufflers, and catalytic converters can set the world on fire.
4. Give yourself a [good] brake
Keep an eye on your brakes with a regular maintenance schedule. When your brake linings wear thin, you can get that dreaded metal-to-metal contact. Sparks, again!
5. Check your tire pressure
Air pressure is the strength that keeps your sidewall holding up your tire. Lose pressure, the tire heats up. Maybe not hot enough to start a fire (though it could happen), but hot enough to blow. Once blown, your metal rim can meet up with the roadway. It’s too hot a romance and while “sparks fly,” roadside brush becomes an unintended partner in that romance and the cause of a brush fire begins.
6. Invest in a TPMS
On a related to “check your tire pressure” note, investing in a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) can likewise prevent your RV from starting brush fires. Yes, you may have checked your tire pressure with a gauge just before you pulled out on the road, but things happen. A catastrophic tire blowout is one of them, and here we go, rim-to-pavement kissing makes for sparks.
A good TPMS can warn you of a tire that’s starting to overheat and get you stopped before the tire “goes.” In the case of a blowout, the TPMS will let you know in a hurry that you’ve blown a tire, hopefully before sparks are flying.
More about TPMS systems in these articles here.
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Over 40% of all wildfires are caused by people who tow trailers!
The trailer’s rim scraped the asphalt, sending sparks that ignited a 5-mile wall of flames. The fire burned for 11 days, destroying 1,077 homes, damaging 277 others, and burning 229,651 acres before ending on August 30, 2018. It killed eight people and is considered Shasta County’s worst disaster ever. At the time, it was the sixth-most destructive fire in California history, but is now the ninth-most destructive.
Please please !!
https://www.plumasnews.com/where-i-stand-dangerous-trailer-start-fires-there-ought-to-be-laws/#:~:text=Trailer.”%20In%20fact%20“You%20Can't%20Handle%20The,forgave%20her%20again%20simply%20Google%20Carr%20Wildfire
Good article Russ and Tina, and even better safety tips and reminders!
Referencing brake care. Do NOT overlook the rubber brake lines from the steel tube lines to the wheel calipers. Over time and/or lack of maintenance, water gets into the brake fluid and deteriorates the inside of the rubber tube causing it to swell, blocking fluid flow. Also, the water can boil with brake usage and create considerable heat and risk of a tire fire or blowout.
Mind where your generator’s exhaust pipe is pointed. It’ll dry the grass and light it if given the chance.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Our safety “chains” are plastic-covered wires. We do the rest. Your comment about driving on grass reminded me of tailgating at Auburn University’s football games. The first year the University was adamant about all generator exhausts having extensions to vent the emissions (and the heat) into the air well above the roofs of the RVs. They kinda stopped that. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to read of a disastrous fire in Auburn, Alabama that destroyed an RV or two in the future. 🤔😯🙁 Thanks again, have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I remember when I was growing up in Chicago, fuel trucks all had “grounding chains” dragging along under them. I guess at some point someone thought that was a bad idea. WE called them ‘spark chains’.