If not for his nerves of steel and common sense there could have been an explosion in the city.
German television website rtlnext.de told the story of Jürgen Heim, a 49-year-old driver, who prevented a tragedy thanks to his sobriety of mind and composure. He was driving a tanker with 25,000 l of diesel and 10,000 l of gasoline through Schrobenhausen, a Bavarian town, when he noticed fire in the rear-view mirror. The first knee-jerk reaction is such a situation is the desire to escape but the man knew that if he jumped out of the vehicle it will crash and explode in the middle of the town. Since leaving the vehicle was out of question, Heim decided to call for help. He knew that he had to leave the town so he called the emergency number 112 so that the dispatcher could direct him to an empty area. „The dispatcher was reassuring me” When Heim managed to leave the city, the waiting fire brigade could cool off and extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire was probably a punctured tyre.
Check your tyres!
In hot weather you should pay special attention to the tires. When the air temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, the temperature of asphalt can reach up to 60 degrees. In such conditions the tyres wear faster and pose a potential threat of accident.
Therefore, before the start of the trip, check tyre pressure and check them for possible damage, bulges, cracks, blisters.
If a tyre bursts while driving, keep calm and start braking gradually as soon as you can. Do not stop rapidly.
If a tyre gets on fire, the driver should continue to drive until the fire goes out. Stopping the truck may result in spreading fire over the entire vehicle.
Photo: pfaffenhofen-today.de