FARGO (KFGO) – A recreational vehicle is a complete loss after it caught fire and burned in a parking lot just off of Veteran’s Boulevard near Sanford Hospital Monday morning.
The Fargo Fire Department was called shortly after 9:00 a.m. to the Bell Bank and Casey’s parking lot just south of 23rd Avenue S. Battalion Chief Joe Mangin said the RV was heavily involved in flames when crews arrived.
“The flames were from the front to the back of the vehicle. Black smoke blew low across the road, reducing visibility. It took about six or seven minutes to get the fire knocked down most of the way,” Mangin said. “The gentleman with the RV had just loaded it and was planning two years of being on the road, so he had a lot of his possessions in there and everything that’s in that RV now is a total loss.”
The driver of the RV, which had North Dakota plates, was uninjured.
Fire fighters and Fargo Police closed 23rd Avenue S. eastbound for about 45 minutes while the fire was completely extinguished. Mangin said that was a safety measure.
“While the RV was on fire there were multiple small explosions. All the doors of the RV have metal struts and they were shooting out 30 to 40 feet so that created some hazards for anybody who was driving by,” Mangin said.
Mangin explained that the six inch rods are surrounded by a metal tube filled with fluid. Once that fluid heats up to a certain point the pressure builds and they release explosively. He said six or seven of the rods were found on the ground around the area of the RV. He said it’s one of the many reasons they encourage the public to stay away from active fires.
Metal rods that were shooting out of the engulfed RV
The RV’s owner told fire inspectors that he had found evidence that rodents had been in the RV and suspected the fire was caused by chewed electrical wiring, but Mangin said the department had yet to make any official determination as to the cause of the fire.
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