Fiery crash on Vegas Strip

https://www.fox5vegas.com/2023/01/28/officer-driver-hospitalized-after-fiery-crash-las-vegas-strip/



Was surprised even the smaller palm trees can withstand a car impact.

I think it was around 2010 when i saw a car cut off a taxi on the Strip near the Fashion Mall.
the taxi veered into the medium, hit a small diameter palm tree and flipped the car over.
The palm tree was still standing. (cars seemed to be going somewhat fast so maybe 40mph?)

There was smoke coming from the car so i left quickly incase of explosion.

Quote: 100xOdds

https://www.fox5vegas.com/2023/01/28/officer-driver-hospitalized-after-fiery-crash-las-vegas-strip/



Was surprised even the smaller palm trees can withstand a car impact.

I think it was around 2010 when i saw a car cut off a taxi on the Strip near the Fashion Mall.
the taxi veered into the medium, hit a small diameter palm tree and flipped the car over.
The palm tree was still standing. (cars seemed to be going somewhat fast so maybe 40mph?)

(There was smoke coming from the car so i left quickly incase of explosion.)
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Had the responding police cars been equipped with fire extinguishers, this could have been resolved much more effectively,

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but cars on fire can't explode. It happens in movies and television shows because it's an exciting effect. Everything that goes off a cliff must gratuitously explode. But the physics of explosions are such that a mere fire or impact is not enough to cause an explosion.

I make this gripe because I saw a movie that showed a car crash into a tree and a subsequent frantic struggle to get the driver out and wondered why there was such desperation? Well, in the nick of time, the driver was saved from the engine exploding! Oh. I saw what they were going for there. I suppose if something like a fire extinguisher were IN the car, then that could explode. But if a run-of-the mill crash could cause an explosion, I would think there'd be constant news of yet ANOTHER explosion!

That car fire spread real fast such that the rescuers had zero time left to get him out by the time they got him out. I can't see the front end damage to the left headlight area but I would guess he didn't hit the tree at more than 10 mph. There may have been a car fire going on before he lost control of the car. If the airbags were deployed, they become a fire hazard in this case too. There's been loads of spontaneous car fires erupting all over. Maybe it's a manufacturing defect that demands a recall. You can see when the fire extinguisher gets to the passenger door, the fire is just monstrously spreading and it's not safe to stand around spraying that thing.

I've been conditioned by decades of TV shows to expect a big kablooey of an explosion, but the film cut off before a 50 foot crater erupted on the strip. EV cars can expect to burn for 12 hours I guess, so we've got an entirely new generation of car fires to contend with.

Couldn't the gas tank explode if it caught fire?

I've seen cars flare up suddenly, which produces a fireball effect, but never an explosion.

Quote: smoothgrh

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but cars on fire can't explode. It happens in movies and television shows because it's an exciting effect. Everything that goes off a cliff must gratuitously explode. But the physics of explosions are such that a mere fire or impact is not enough to cause an explosion.

I would not say "can't" but would say rarely do. Cars are made NOT to catch fire and explode. Mythbusters kind of showed this a few times. We had small plane crashed or nearly crashed into a parking lot in a city I worked in once. One of the woman said there would be "all kinds of explosions" or something. I pointed out that no, that will not happen. Cars are made not to explode. Another woman, who hated me for some reason, insisted they could. I said again that it was movies, cars do not just explode. And if she doubted me then she should ask a first responder how often it happens. She kept getting madder and madder. Eventually bringing up some car that had a recall for fires or explosions. I just pointed out that it was just one model under certain conditions, that cars are made not to explode.

She kept hating me, eventually not talking to me at all in the office. Which was great.

Point is they test cars all kinds of ways to keep them from exploding. Realizing this as you have said in your post is a sign of a person who gets things are not the movies. A good thing on your part.

Quote: smoothgrh

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but cars on fire can't explode. It happens in movies and television shows because it's an exciting effect. Everything that goes off a cliff must gratuitously explode. But the physics of explosions are such that a mere fire or impact is not enough to cause an explosion.

I make this gripe because I saw a movie that showed a car crash into a tree and a subsequent frantic struggle to get the driver out and wondered why there was such desperation? Well, in the nick of time, the driver was saved from the engine exploding! Oh. I saw what they were going for there. I suppose if something like a fire extinguisher were IN the car, then that could explode. But if a run-of-the mill crash could cause an explosion, I would think there'd be constant news of yet ANOTHER explosion!
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I was only a firefighter for a short time, but cars never exploded like you see in the movies.

However what can happen is a violent reaction with the magnesium in the engine compartment when you apply water.

Quote: 100xOdds

Was surprised even the smaller palm trees can withstand a car impact.

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(Quote clipped)

This comment sent me off reading up on palm trees. I learned that they are not wood trees but more like grass, with fibrous trunks. Given their fibrous nature it seems they do not snap like a woody tree would on impact.