Three people were hurt in a motorhome fire on a West Virginia interstate on Monday. The inferno shut down southbound Interstate 79 south of Fairmont for nearly three hours.
By the time dispatchers received the call at 2:20 in the afternoon, the rig and its toad car were fully engulfed. Two fire departments took point on the fire, with three others bringing water.
Three hurt in motorhome fire—no word on condition
Three people, none of them identified, were on board the Class A rig when it caught on fire. All three suffered burns and were taken a hospital. As of Tuesday afternoon, all three were still hospitalized. No official word on their condition has been released.
In addition to the human toll, the rig was apparently carrying pets when the fire broke out. None of them could be saved.
We’ll update you on the three hurt in the motorhome fire when we get more information.
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So sad, getting hurt and losing pets is awfull.
Yes it is. Prayers go out to all of those suffering and for the lost pets.
So sad that the pets did not survive. 🙁
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 How horrible, particularly that the pets perished. That must make this all the worse for the three who received burns, but escaped. I pray that they recover soon. This makes me even more thankful of our breakdown of more than 3 months ago. The dash air conditioning compressor on our rig failed and began sparking, creating a burning odor that DW and I both detected. We pulled over and stopped. Consulting our (all-star) tech Les Glenn convinced us that we required a tow or mobile tech. Ultimately we were towed to our tech’s shop. We very easily could have missed or ignored the burning smell, dismissing it as from the roadside, until our rig caught fire, or worse.
Thanks again, have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Condolences to the occupants on their injuries as well on the loss of the motorhome, contents and their pets. So sad. Wishing for full and speedy recovery and getting their lives back to normal.
Please keep us updated on the details; gas or diesel, make & age, genset running, tire or brakes ? Anything we can learn from. Thanks for posting!
gas or diesel,”
I’m going with gas. I’m pretty sure that’s a Ford F-53 chassis in the first photo.
My condolences to these folks and sorry to hear of the loss of their pets. I was wondering if RVTravel.com could put together a collection of this and other RV fire incidents causes into a report so readers could have any related systems checked and have proper maintenance caried out to prevent these possible fires. I don’t ever remember seeing any lists or results. Thanks in advance.
Hi Bill: They did publish a list, causes and statistics a while back. Maybe contact Diane or Emily for the link. (Try this: http://www.nfpa.org/foundation ; also, ufa.fema.gov has statistics I think as of 2022). Take care.
Thanks for the info. Cheers and safe travels.