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One of my neighbors had a fire in his '10 Counrty Coach. No one aboard, they were out for a few hours. It appeared that it started in the area where the coach batteries are. Chuck Spera, Bill Dator and I supervised the procedure. The Naples fire Department enjoyed, axing the front door open. No one on onboard, no animals.
Was that John VanderWal?
http://www.rvonline.com/single-ad.asp?Recnumber=50863
That would be him.
There is nothing worse than seeing something that you loved burn up in a fire. My heart goes out to the VanderWal family. So sad!
Terrible. Makes me sick. How can POG help?
This is awful. Did they actually axe the front door. Bet that took them a while. Looks like the fire was in the rear although the battery bank is in a cargo bay. What does the inside look like ? Do you think this will be a total loss ? Did you and Bill wear your Fireman Hats while directing ?
I can relate to the pain associated with seeing your coach go up in flames.
Attachment 7756
In his case his bus was for sale, so if the insurance company totals it and he gets a check for what he was expecting from a sale he comes out OK. Nothing is worse than the feeling in your gut when you first see your bus damaged by fire.
Rick,Any idea what caused this fire?
The question about the Coach being a total loss is interesting. If the Coach was a Marathon, Liberty, Millenium, etc. I believe it would be a Total. They would not want to deal with this coach in the future no matter who repaired it.
Since Country Coach is defunct and out of buisness, the coach could be repaired and back on the road since it is not being supported by any company.
I know several coaches which were totaled by insurance companies . The convertors considered them de listed.
They still got repaired but they have much less value because they are orphans.
I do not agree with the statement regarding the relationship between Country Coach , its alledged non-supported value vs other converter entities still in business and I view the logic and the comment as out of order. Converters do not set the insurance recovery amounts. No coach, regardless of the converter, will normally be repaired beyond its potential value in the marketplace and certainly no insurance company would knowingly spend dollars beyond an informed market place amount.
Pres
At this point its only speculation, but everyone believes the problem lies with the chassis batteries. The first person who saw smoke coming from the back heard what he thought was the batteries "pop". I haven't been inside but I understand that the coach remained relatively clean inside except for some clothes in the rear closet area.
Hey Thompson Coach owners should be sleeping by now-:)
Very similar damages. The fire was very hot, fed by freon escaping under pressure from behind the AC compressor clutch.
The blowtorch like flame from the AC system melted and burned the 4 chassis batteries and the 6 house batteries located in the engine area. Despite the heat and engine compartment damage no smoke or excessive heat entered the house portion of the coach, a testament to Prevost.
Unlike the CC coach, we were notified by a trucker of the fire and used up all our fire extinguishers on the fire and quite a bit of the water from our holding tank drain to extinguish and cool the heated metal parts which kept reigniting the freon. If left unattended there is no doubt in my mind the fire would have eventually burned into the house through the rear cap.
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Sid
I do my best work at night.
I took a closer look this morning and the front door is in tact, apparently they busted the small electric window to get in. He also had significant damage to his car which was parked behind the coach. This stuff screws up your vacation plans.
I know of a few issues with Volvo batteries and chargers. Leon @ Marathon told me about a few fires and battery problems with Echo/Guest chargers, and the Volvo chassis batteries. I do not know the specific differences between these batteries, and the more common Delco or Interstate group 31 starting batteries. Being that this was a late model shell, it very well could of had the Volvo batteries, which are likely manufactured under contract by someone else. I believe the L-model CC's had an external charger for the chassis batteries. This may be a good starting point to determine the cause of the fire. The older XL shells have 2 switches to remove most of the possible loads on the chassis batteries in the engine bay, and the H shell has a switch at the dash to accomplish the same thing. The XLII's do not offer that provision although I believe there is a solenoid or relay that is tied in with the ignition switch that may shut off some additional loads.
Steve, that's kind of scary, I have Volvo engine batteries, wonder if I need to contact Prevost about any difficulties? They are 3 years old and do not have a guest charger on them, so they are probably nearing the end of their service life.
Rick, isn't that the second coach fire in your campground? I seem to remember another fire you reported on a few years ago?
JIM :D
That definitely is a shame to see a beautiful coach go up in flames. The bigger issue in my mind is the fact that they were fortunately not in the coach when this started. Nothing like sleeping right on top of the tinder box. If there is a battery problem with the potential for spontaneous ingnition, it seems the manufacturer better get on top of it before there is a tragedy.
Ambien anyone?
Jim
Your correct, this is the 2nd one. The last one was right next to our site, this one is about 3 sites down on the other side. They say things happen in 3's. I hope it isn't contageous.
Regardless of which model shell we have battery cable protection starts at the circuit breaker. Every inch of battery cable which is between the battery posts and the coach circuit breaker is an unprotected section, and with the number and size of our house and chassis batteries the potential for substantial sparking or heat generation is considerable. Once a short circuit occurs, such as from a cable whose insulation has rubbed against a body portion and been worn through the heat along that cable is sure to ignite the insulation. As the insulation burns, insulation from nearby cables begins to burn.
At every point along my cables that runs near or touches a piece of metal I have used additional insulation in the form of a section of plastic tubing or other material that will not conduct electric, but will prevent chafing.
To provide some sleepless nights think of all the unprotected wires, such as those from the alternator to the battery or isolator, such as the wires going to the electric box for the DDEC coming directly from the battery posts, wires to and from the equalizers, wires from battery chargers. wires that may have been run after the coach was built for added accessories, etc. We have them everywhere including at the generator and possibly to and from the inverters. An hour or two looking at wires and looking for possible chafing or contact with the chassis, or that could be fused but are not will be well spent and pennies worth of some plastic or rubber hose and some nylon wire ties will add significantly to the safety of the coach.
Reagan,
I can comment as to what happened to my Marathon, when it was involved with a fire. In my case my bus was in a hangar where another coach caught fire, and caught the hangar on fire. My coach had some pretty decent damage with everything on the roof melting, and lots of soot and smoke inside. But, I thought the coach was repairable. I took it to Marathon, and after an inspection they wrote a letter to the insurance company deeming the bus a total, and that that they would not fix it, nor would they supply parts to any other party that decided to fix it.
The bus was sold at auction, and was purchased for a very low price. The new owner showed up at Marathon a couple of months later to try to get it fixed, and Marathon refused (as per their letter) to fix the coach. In their eyes, this is no longer a Marathon coach.
So, I would guess that later on, if someone tries to sell this bus, even after it was fixed elsewhere, it wouldn't get the same valuation. So, I believe that's what the previous author was trying to say.
Ray
Busy day in Pelican Lake. Prevost arranged to pick up and transport the coach to Jacksonville. I must admit they responded quickly and professionally. I guess from this point on, once they get it to JAX they will determine the cause. Then who knows?
Ray,
Thank you for the kind, thought out clarification. I appreciate the information and I do realize converters are indeed a major part of the aftermarket values. It is fun to somewhat "poke fun" yet I was reacting to what I felt was a rather straight forward blast at CC that I felt was undeserved. I always seek to give the benefit of the doubt on any comments and certainly I additionally hope (as we all do) that the victims of this fire have the opportunity to recover their treasured coach without a feeling of diminishment of value. Even though we did not announce it, we acquired a Prevost CC in November and truly, truly love the coach. (I guess I will pull the trusty '87 Newell behind it to the POG rallies). Thank you again.
Pres
Let me start by saying how sorry I am for Mr. Vanderwahl and his family for this tragic lose, and am very happy nobody was hurt in this bus fire....Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Wehrenberg
HOWEVER, does it strike anybody in this group a little bit funny, that Jon W., was the first person to NAME and know of this coach?
Jon not only knew the coach, but found the RVonline Web site where it was listed for sale. Add to that it was a C.C., and with two Slides and maybe the two stickers on my bumpers should be transfered BACK to Jons bus where they belong ?
I m just saying !!!!!!:D
I was drawn to the listing, not because it was a CC as Gary alleges, but because it was a CC with a 2010 model year. I thought that unusual to say the least.
If you folks promise not to tell the CC owners who I will try to abuse from time to time I can say we have toured and driven some CC coaches and there are a couple in particular that we thought had outstanding floor plans and decor. So as a lurker on sites which offer coaches for sale I enjoy seeing the various conversions, all of which have something going for them. Except for American's with CC stickers. That shows how underloved that particular conversion is.
Touche' Jon Touche'
Just kidding about American. They and Angola made great coaches and if my memory is correct there was some common ownership or mangement in their past. That said you are still fair game for insults and ball breaking.
We want your pups.
Back to the fire,I think that this was the last or almost last coach that Country Coach converted,it would be easy for them to shortcut wiring etc.knowing that they were going out of business and also knowing that they would not be in business to warranty the shortcuts.It is also possible that vendors had them on credit hold and they substituted an inferior or under amperage rated connector that could create a problem in time.
In the last three to four years I've seen posted 4 or more Prevost fires all in the engine compartment, near the chasis batteries. It seems to me it's not a convertor problem.
I agree that we have seen fires near the batteries but I have not heard a exact area of concern by anyone yet,I do think that we should all be diligent in inspecting the wires and cables that go to the batteries and some extra insulation cannot hurt.I would also like to hear Leon's concerns about battery chargers,specifically the Guest charger that most of us have.
Any info on what happened?