Reading this story raised a couple of questions:
How quick do you think your cab/trailer would take to become burnt-out?
Would it be enough time to rescue your ‘valuables’? Would you even bother??
Why didn’t they just pull the pin and gun-it forward??
let it burn 
if the fridge is on fire theres no way in this world im sticking my head under the trailer to pull the pin (take the clip out then pull it if you can).its insured.
if i was him id of grabbed my personal stuff (passport, phone etc…)
jon
IMHO in that situation, the chances of getting the unit out were zilch. I would’ve thought the plastic susies would have already melted, meaning - no chance. I doubt I would bother trying to get back in to try and grab anything.
Good job it didn’t go up like that on the Ferry.
Having seen a hay/straw wagon (I know someone has told us the difference before - but I can’t remember 
) pull into Barnsdale Bar emitting smoke, and seeing three blokes jump out, the whole vehicle was ablaze within…I’d say 90 seconds. It was summer and they didn’t even have time to retrieve their shirts.
I was pulling out from the opposite carriageway and even I could feel the heat from the fire.
As for the M20 job. If the fire was coming from the fridge, then it was probably being fed from a broken fuel line. Switching the fridge off is the easy option, especially for a LHD, but there will still be a considerable amount of leaked fuel that has yet to ignite. But if you’re in a foreign country, what’s more important, saving the unit or risk losing your passport, money and phone?
The former is insured (and someone else’s problem), personal items aren’t, which is perhaps a sad reflection upon today’s society (AND employers attitudes). 
Releasing the ‘pin’ requires going around the other side of the vehicle where the door will invariably be locked. Not a good place to be to retrieve personal items as the flames get bigger.
Of course there is also an alternative aspect to this discussion. Unbeknown to the driver, a trailer tyre goes flat and then catches fire. His first awareness of this is when he sees smoke and flames in the mirror. Does he stop and risk, with essentially a fridge being mainly plastic, the whole trailer going up, or does he phone the Fire Service (at a reduced speed) ‘playing’ catch me if you can? 
On the one hand, the airflow will exacerbate the the fire (and heat) within the area of the wheel but, on the other hand, serve to dissipate the concentration of heat to the more combustible parts of the vehicle.
I don’t know the answer.
A trailer full of Ikea flat pack kitchens went up in flames last Saturday just a few streets away from us. Suspected arson.
Apparently it went up fairly quick and the trailer was totally burnt out.
I was in a pub in the next street at the time and never heard or saw a thing. (A dozen or so pints of beer may have had something to do with it!)
By the time I got there on Sunday lunchtime, the trailer had been towed away.
I think the reason the Belgian driver pulled away is because the driver wasnt from Benelux. They cant stand them.
Krankee:
Having seen a hay/straw wagon (I know someone has told us the difference before - but I can’t remember
I don’t really have to explain it again, do i 
I saw the remnants of an 3 yr old ERF that went up in smoke with a load of Straw a couple of years ago - plastic cab totally melted, just a pile bent twisted metal left
Straw burns quicker than hay
There was a truck laden with big round bales of straw caught light at Backwell crossroads (A370 Bristol -WSM) a couple of years back, the flames soon burnt throught the securing straps and the burning bales rolled off the truck and into the Chemist’s shop, I don’t know how fast the truck went up, but the Chemists went pretty quickly!
When i started working for DHL i was told that anyone who uses a fire extinguisher without the appropriate training would be dismissed, they have just put an extinguisher in every cab but nobody has given us any training so if there was a fire its out the cab and run like hell.
I wouldnt even think about saving the unit if it was a trailer fire its just get out and get away.
jammymutt:
When i started working for DHL i was told that anyone who uses a fire extinguisher without the appropriate training would be dismissed, they have just put an extinguisher in every cab but nobody has given us any training so if there was a fire its out the cab and run like hell.
Good choice.
Unless the fire is very small, an extinguisher will be no use in putting it out. Even the big ones you find in buildings (a couple of feet high and about 8-10" in diameter) empty themselves in under 10 seconds. A fire extinguisher is to firefighting what a first aid kit is to medicine.
You can use it to put out a very small fire that’s just started, or to beat back flames so that you can get yourself out. Otherwise, don’t bother. Get yourself and everyone else out of the way, and let the professionals deal with it.
I’d Get out, Stay out and call the professionals…Every thing is replaceable. Even if it was sad to see the unit burn.
No way would I take a chance with that sort of fire.
I passed a boots wagon burning on Thursday between Jcn 36 & 37 of the M6. The cab was completely alight and the flames were about 5 feet down the trailer by the time I passed it. What got me was that there was only about 300 yards of traffic queueing behind it which would lead me to believe that it had only been going for a matter of seconds as at 08:30 that stretch of motorway is rather busy!
A good friends fully loaded car transporter went up in smoke on the M5 in Birmingham yesterday morning. He said that once he pulled in he had just enough time to grab his wallet, car keys & phone, then he legged it. He lost all his personal gear in the fire. Apparently it caused chaos at the top of the M5 for most of the day.