Limo catches fire, five women die

As the unofficial SportsJournalists.com joker, I do agree that joking about this is a bit off-putting.

 

My first thought...crack or meth?

 

One of the women has been saying the driver didn't try to help the others through the front partition, though I don't put a lot of stock in that interview. I'm surprised as many made it through to the front seat as did. And there were other bystanders telling people not to go back toward the car.

 

Ever think maybe, while they were trying to crawl through a crawl space he was, I dunno, trying to unlock a door or bust a window?

 

The one witness says he wasn't trying to do that. Again, I don't make much of that because of the shock and confusion all around, but that is probably what HanSenSE's comment was getting at.

 

Speculative but well-informed article by SF Chronicle, noting that the after-market alterations into a stretch limo can affect the integrity of the original car design.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Limo-alterations-can-create-weaknesses-4493532.php

But Alex Wong, who investigates vehicle fires for Lee S. Cole + Associates of Novato, said the fact that Brown was able to drive while the car was smoking suggests that the gas tank was not breached - at least initially. He said that in some limousine fires, the original source of fuel is fiberglass.

"Typically, the middle section of a stretch limousine is fiberglass," Wong said. "Once it catches fire, it burns just as hot or hotter than gasoline."

One witness who said he had passed the limousine on the bridge said the back end of the vehicle was alarmingly low to the road before the flames broke out. Experts said a low-riding vehicle can produce sparks, potentially contributing to a fire.

"It really looked like the rear bumper was almost on the ground," said the witness, Russell Jeong, a senior director at Diamond Foods Inc. in San Francisco.

 

The thought I had given the names of the victims was that there may have been a language barrier. I would also imagine that a limo full of women shouting and carrying on and banging on the partition isn't an unusual event, and that you just learn to tune it out. From what I've seen, he thought they were asking if they could smoke.

 

Those Town Cars came equipped with an automatic air ride level control shocks system in the rear that, when it is malfunctioning, can cause the back end to droop. In the 90s it was common to see late 80s-early 90s Lincolns with a front or back end droop due to air ride being broken.

 

Wouldn't a limo like this have a sun roof too?

 

Usually but there are the rare few that don't.

 

Or it's stuck.

 

Or the fire knocked out the power & it couldn't be opened. Thought of that after i posted.