Why They Called it a "BLAZER"

[3RRL]

Thought I'd share this thread with you...
Wanna see what happened to us on New Year's Day this year?



Loretta was driving the Jeep and she had Coco and most of the gear. I was driving the Blazer with Wes in the passenger seat towing the trailer home. We had driven only 10 miles and smoke started pouring into the cab. I could see flames coming from the dash and below. Loretta passed me and I told her to pull over on the radios we carry because the Blazer was on fire. Later she told me she could see flames spewing out the engine compartment. I lost power because the fuel line burnt and the engine shut off. I told Wes to jump out before the interior flamed completely. He did a barrel roll (at about 10 mph) and hurt his shoulder and hips but he's OK...sort of. He was very brave and worried about me. His Mom took him to the Doctor's and got X-rays and it turns out he has a broken arm ... a fractured humerus! So he will get a cast put on tomorrow. I feel so bad about it but I just did not know what to do at that moment. I had visions of the car blowing up or us stuck inside the cab? I figured out was better than in.



I finally stopped the Blazer in a safe area (not trying to set the forest on fire) and tried to get what I could before it blew up...I had just filled it gas. Loretta and I tried to put the fire out but it was too late and we couldn't get at it under the hood. The paint was burning off and could not touch it. Plus we were waiting for the gas to blow. She cried her heart out. I also tried to un-hook the trailer but couldn't. The fire dept came just in time to save the trailer. The Blazer burnt to a crisp but we were OK. The flames went at least 30' into the air and burned the asphalt.



We figure rodents like mice or rats got in the engine compartment while the truck was at the property and they had probably made a nest and chewed the plastic wires and hoses. Don't know for sure though. Then the towing company tried to screw us when we wanted to get the vehicles out of their yard.

Here is an article Wesley found on the net about the incident.
Rob's Car Fire

Rob-

Oh, Loretta bought me a new truck in Visalia the next day, so that was great!

[gerifalte]

Oh my, I am so sorry about your accident Rob! Good to hear nobody got seriously hurt! How is the insurance company treating you?

[3RRL]

gerifalte said:

Oh my, I am so sorry about your accident Rob! Good to hear nobody got seriously hurt! How is the insurance company treating you?

Thank you.
Wes did end up breaking his arm, but it was a fracture. He is totally healed up already. I saved as much as I could out of the Blazer, and as you saw, the trailer only had minor burn marks.
No insurance. I dropped the comprehensive coverage when it turned 10 years old and only had liability on it. Of course I didn't expect it to burn up 4 years later though. It was a good truck for many, many years.
Rob-

[gerifalte]

A broken arm in a kid heals faster than a skin nick for us older men I am glad nothing serious happened to you or him. That must have been a really scary accident.
Don't be so hard on yourself about his fracture, you did the right thing....I would have done the exact same thing!

Sorry about the insurance! I don't know if this is available with your company, but we have a couple of vehicles (cargo vans) for which I don't pay comprehensive, but the insurance company do pay the full amount if the vehicle is a totaled (at least that's the theory). It is not too expensive and gives you an extra cushion for accidents like the one you just had.

Now, how is that new truck holding up. I see who pays the bills at the 3rrl's home ;D ...just joking!

[bracabric]

Rob, don't feel "so bad about it" in a situation like that you take fast decisive action to protect all those you can!! which you did! If Wes had remained in the truck and got badly burned which was a distinct possibility, you really would feel bad but because of your sensible taking control of an unpredictable situation all is well and Wes is as good as new.
Hope if I ever have a vehicle fire, you are there to give me such sound advise!!!

Dick

[3RRL]

Thanks, you guys are great!
Under the circumstances, it seemed like the thing to do.

I wanted to share what happened at the towing company.
After the incident the Highway patrol called a local towing company. They were out of Farmersville (about 15 miles away). In hindsight I should have called triple AAA but I figured the CHP could find a tow company faster...and being New Year's. Truth is I was so shook up I didn't even think of it. Well, when the tow truck arrived he gave us his card and said it would be towed to their yard. He winched the Blazer up and hooked on the trailer behind so we would only be charged with one tow fee. We would have 4 hours to get it out without incurring any storage fees. So I told him we'd be right down with a truck to do that. He then said "we are really closed today so you will have to get it at 8:00am tomorrow. I said Ok but if I can't get it now (today) then my 4 hour grace period starts tomorrow, right? He said right.

So we started to drive home figuring we could come back tomorrow with a rental truck or something to tow the trailer home. About 1/2 way down hwy 65 we decided to go back to camp so we could ask our contractor to tow the trailer to his yard and also have a scrap yard tow the blazer away. We thought instead of spending 4 hours driving home and then 8 hours again the next day, we would look at trucks in Visalia and buy one, then tow the trailer home after picking it up from our contractor's yard. His yard is about 10 minutes from the tow company.

So the next day, (the 2nd) we get down to the tow yard. The guy there said he didn't have the paperwork and was waiting for the lady owner to get there with it. We waited almost 2 hours for her to get there. In the mean time, we had called our builder and a wrecking yard and they had sent trucks to pick up the trailer and the Blazer....no lady yet.

She finally got there and immediately started out with the paperwork and bill ...$588 total for towing 2 vehicles and 2 days storage for 2 vehicles! I said "WTF" in so many words and accused her of ripping us off. The vehicles had not even been there 1 full day and our grace period was to start at 8:00am today and she was late ...plus the 4 hours had not passed yet anyway. On top of that the 2 vehicle tow charges when the trailer was pulled behind the wrecker! I told her I would not pay it and she said "You will if you want to get your vehicles!" She said the first day storage was for yesterday and the next day storage was for today.
I'm telling you I was so mad, that if she was a man, one of us would have died.

That's when I told her I would report her to the CHP, and the BBB for ripping us off. I told her what the driver had said and also told her "I'm going to call the CHP patrolman right now! His name is Steve Wilson and he gave me his card in case I had any trouble." (A big lie of course and I didn't even know what his name was ;D) Anyway, I said to her that I would tell him how she does her math and that I was misrepresented to by him (the CHP) and her driver and that I would also call the watch commander in charge. She immediately said "Well, in that case maybe I won't charge you for the storage after all" And she took off $208. I paid the $380 towing bill and actually felt good about getting screwed, but getting a little satisfaction in return. Triple AAA would have towed our vehicles for nothing!

[3RRL]

After all that we started looking at new trucks in Visalia. We looked at the Ford and Chevy but could not find a local Dodge dealer. We ended up getting this truck.





It's a 2008 Chevy 2500 Silverado LT package. 4 wheel drive, 6.6 liter Duromax turbo diesel with the famous Allison 6 speed tranny. It has all kinds of gizmos it it. It has tons of power and is super comfortable.
Back up sensors, towing package built in with jake brake automatic down shifting trans. Automatic dimming rear view mirror
Locking rear differential, Separate driver & passenger air/ heating controls, towing rear view mirrors. Adjustable foot pedals, power seats. On star and satellite radio, heck the truck even has it's own cell phone number!
Remote starting and warm up for engine and interior...all kinds of stuff. More than I wanted on a truck but that's how most of the 2500's were equipped. I checked out the new Ford too. The Chevy came better equipped and a couple thousand cheaper than Ford.
We got 15mpg (14.9) pulling a trailer over the Grapevine!!! Wow!
So I'm OK with that now.
Rob-

[tuffytractor]

I'm glad all your loved ones are fine. Sorry to see the blazer didn't fare so well. I can't believe that gal at the tow yard was such a pain. You might do well to report her to the BBB in any case, if she is willing to do that to you, she must have done it to plenty of people in the past.

Turns out the truck you ended up with is the one I'm considering getting, but only the GMC version. I've been waiting for the "Family & Friends" discount to appear, as the slowing economy and the cost of diesel has the effect of killing sales. We'll see if my truck will last that long. It only has 5-8 lbs oil pressure at idle, with 135K miles on it. They say the bigger V-8's have that problem. I've replaced the oil pump, and the sending unit, but didn't want to do a half job and replace the lower end bearings, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it survives, till I get the new one. I'm glad you like it, I'm hoping I will too!

[3RRL]

Tim,
You're probably right about that old gal. She operated as though she was HNIC and no one would question it. So I'm sure she's ripped off many others before me.

Get that new truck!
I can't say enough good things about mine. I get an email every month telling me the status of the engine oil, air filter, trans etc...all kinds of stuff. I called the dealer to see if I needed to bring it in for the first oil change. They said NOT to bring it in until I get the email telling me to change the oil. Depending on the KIND of driving you do, that could be quite a while. So far I have 7,500 miles on it and there's still 29% oil life left before I need to bring it in.

BTW, my old Blazer had 180,000+ miles on it. Nevertheless, I really like that vehicle.

[bradblazer]

Hey Rob,
I don't know why I never responded when I first saw this thread. It must have been the slanderous title LOL. Glad everything turned out okay.

The last time I had a wreck towed I had them tow it to my place. The driver wondered why - for some reason I didn't mention all of the horror stories I had heard about how the tow companies tend to kidnap cars for ransom. As a rule I would never give a tow company permission to tow to their yard. Ask the cop for the the nearest mechanic/dealer/junkyard or whatever if you are away from home.

Hows that great looking Chevy holding up?