Crazy night

[horst]

Coming home from the next town over last night with the wife and kids.Wifes driving and Im inda spacing off looking out the window for deer.All the sudden this car flys up behind us and almost hits us trying to pass us.Once he is past hes all over the road, the guys obviously drunk and doing about 80 MPH in a 55.Couldnt even report him because he was gone so fast I idnt even get a look at the car

My wife said she sure hopes he doesnt hit anyone and we keep driving.About 5 miles later we come over this hill top and theres cars parked on the side of the road, and people standing all over the place.We figure hes hit someone so we go down and see if they need any help.Get outta the car and it becomes apparent its not an accident, theres a van with sparks shooting out from under the motor parked in the intersection and its smoking pretty bad.Theres also about 8 mexicans standing around that were in the van and one other vehichle that had been following the van.They were scattered into 2 groups, 3 of them were standing across from the van and 5 were standing uphill from it.Those 5 kept inching uphill away from things, just by the way they were acting I think i mighta stumbled onto a van load of illegals whos car started on fire

The driver and the other two were standing by us but the driver was having trouble with 911 understanding him and he didnt know where he was at so my wife took his cell phone, called back in and told the operator what was going on.

So with the call made we decided to stay untill the firetruck got there and make sure nobody needed anything else.Heres where things get even worse.

Its exactly 4 miles from where the frhouse is to where this vans sitting.The electrical problem isnt really all that bad as we hang up from 911, just sparks and a lotta smoke coming from under the van.

The drivers telling me all his tools are in the van, air compressors, nail guns, gas cans, things like that.Im assuming he was a roofer.I told him not to worry about them, the firetrucks would be there soon enough to save em.Boy was I wrong.

After 10 mnutes the sparks caught something on fire under the hood.

after 15 minutes there was definately flames coming out from under the hood, still no emergency personel.I asked again to make there was no one that needed to be pulled outta the van.They said no.

20 minutes into it we had One state trooper on the scene, and the van was fully engulfed in flames, the windows were exploding, tires exploding, the drivers freaking out, everything inthe vans obviously a total loss be now and no firetrucks are there yet.

25 minutes later the firetrucks are finally there, the guys air tanks have blown up and the gas in the back has caught on fire, its a very large fire at this point.another cop has shown up as well and thier directing traffic.

The three mexicans near us have Texas Ids, the ones on the hill have wandered clear down the road at this point, still no idea if they are legal.The cops took our statement, they got the van extinguished, and we left.

but I kept wondering what the hold up was, 25 minutes to go 4 miles?What if someone had been trapped in thier seatbelt inside the van.It took 20 minutes to get a cop there.I watched people driving like idiots changing lanes, speeding, slamming on thier brakes as they neared the fire.I was honestly amazed there wasnt another accident as a result of the first one.The response time sucked on this one.luckily nobody was hurt.But it was quite a crazy night

[Muff]

Re: Crazy night

I wonder if it is a volunteer fire crew...some times it takes us a little while to get there. Alot depends on who can make the call....anyway I am just glad no one was hurt.

[Guest Andrea]

Re: Crazy night

That doesn't surprise me at all.

About 8 years ago my husband and me and our youngest son were coming home from Lowe's. We were in the truck. I noticed a flame coming up from behind us and we pulled over. Surprisingly...a cop was pulling over behind us too. He saw the flames and had already called the fire dept.

The fire dept was less than 1/2 of a mile away!!!!!!!!!

We snatched Jack who was still strapped in his car seat out of the cab and ran to the other side of the road. By the time we had pulled over and got the baby out and got to the other side of the road....................the truck was fully involved.

Jack's right side of his face was burning hot. 10 seconds longer and we would have had a tragedy on our hands.

Nevertheless...................the %$%^&^%&^(*&^( fire dept. didn't show up for 20 minutes. Not that they could have saved the truck or anything........but what IF we would have had trouble getting out?????

They had to hold my husband OFF the firemen when they finally STROLLED over to the truck. They were totally uncaring and non-chalant.