# Five Women Killed in Limo Fire on San Mateo Bridge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559 "2013-05-05T18:29:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/1 "2013-05-05T18:29:14Z")
"The limo caught fire trapping people inside, according to witnesses. Five women in their 30s died Saturday night when a stretch limousine burst into flames on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, police confirmed to NBC News. Four other people in the limo escaped with burn and smoke inhalation injuries, California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel said. The car’s driver was unhurt. … Witnesses told NBC Bay area the white Lincoln Town Car was not involved in an accident prior to catching on fire. It was not clear what could have sparked the flames." > **[New Bride Among Five Killed in Limo Fire on Bridge](https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/limo-fire-traps-occupants-closes-san-mateo-bridge/1941351/)** > > Witnesses at the scene have reported people trapped inside the burning limo. Any thoughts on what could have caused the tragedy? Usually auto fires result from a collision or start in the engine area. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/2 "2013-05-05T18:36:29Z")
Overheated rear end? The drive train, not the women. I suppose if a u-joint was going out or the rear end hadn’t been properly lubed, it could overheat with the load of ten people in the car and maybe set material in the trunk on fire. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/3 "2013-05-05T18:39:16Z")
I’m guessing a cigarette started a fire in the back and the driver didn’t notice. By the time he realized what was going on it was too late for some of them. I’d put money down that alcohol was a significant factor as well. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/4 "2013-05-05T18:45:04Z")
Cigarettes don’t stay lit for very long and I doubt people smoke in Limos. It would like smoking in a closet. If it was an electrical fire it could have been the electrical windows in the back doors. Those are thermally fused to shut off if people are playing with them but that could have failed. Fuel line rupture would be my guess. Passengers should have been able to exit by crawling through the drop-down window between driver and passenger. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/5 "2013-05-05T18:51:11Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The car’s driver was unhurt. …because he was 35 feet from the fire and had his own door. Seriously, I don’t know how cramming ten (ETA: drunken, group-stupid) people into a flammable space with one limited-access door can be legal. As much as I like some looseness for custom-constructed vehicles, ones intended to carry passengers should be held to higher standards than how many bottles of cheap champagne the cooler can hold or how many video screens have been jammed in. Overheated rear diff or fuel line problem, almost certainly traceable to the gross overloading of the basic vehicle engineering. Bet on it. Or, as my kids have learned to say in acid tones when we pass one of these ridiculous, underengineered glam-wagons, “Oh, look, someone famous.” ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/6 "2013-05-05T19:27:48Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Cigarettes don’t stay lit for very long and I doubt people smoke in Limos. It would like smoking in a closet. People smoke in cars, and I don’t see how a limo is significantly different. > [@Amateur Barbarian](#): > > Overheated rear diff or fuel line problem, almost certainly traceable to the gross overloading of the basic vehicle engineering. Bet on it. Any mechanical issue severe enough to cause a fire is likely to have stopped the limo. It doesn’t seem like that is the case. From what I’ve read the back was on fire when the driver pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/7 "2013-05-05T19:33:39Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Any mechanical issue severe enough to cause a fire is likely to have stopped the limo. It doesn’t seem like that is the case. From what I’ve read the back was on fire when the driver pulled over. A broken fuel line would have been spraying gas under the car - modern cars have two fuel lines, one feed and one a fairly high pressure return line. A rupture on the latter would have no effect on vehicle operation and with a spark or a hot exhaust, would turn into a flamethrower. An overheated U-joint or differential would run for quite some time before making itself significantly known to the driver, especially on such a heavy and ungainly vehicle. (That is, a draggy driveline would cause more issues sooner on a lighter vehicle.) ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/8 "2013-05-05T19:40:03Z")
If you look at the picture the flames are coming out of the back of the limo, not anything in the undercarriage. I just don’t see anything mechanical or even a ruptured fuel line causing that. The fire looks internal to the limo to me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/9 "2013-05-05T19:53:00Z")
Free-basing? I mean, look what it did to Richard Pryor. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/10 "2013-05-05T19:55:27Z")
> [@treis](#): > > If you look at the picture the flames are coming out of the back of the limo, not anything in the undercarriage. I just don’t see anything mechanical or even a ruptured fuel line causing that. The fire looks internal to the limo to me. Though I don’t know if/how they reroute fuel lines when making limos, the fire being strictly internal does not preclude a ruptured fuel line, since they usually run through the interior. In fact, with the modified chassis of a limo being under higher stresses, it’s not hard to imagine something breaking loose/buckling and pinching open a fuel line. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/11 "2013-05-05T19:57:12Z")
smoking and shots of 151 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/12 "2013-05-05T20:00:35Z")
I’m willing to lay good odds it isn’t the result of a mechanical defect in the limo. Either somebody dropped a WP grenade, or they set the fire accidentally themselves. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/13 "2013-05-05T20:04:30Z")
Seems to me a big factor must have been electrical doors you could not open if the electrics failed. Which in my mind is stupid as all get out. Though when it comes to safety stuff I am a kinda belt AND suspenders kinda guy. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/14 "2013-05-05T20:08:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’m willing to lay good odds it isn’t the result of a mechanical defect in the limo. Either somebody dropped a WP grenade, or they set the fire accidentally themselves. That’s an \*awful \*lot of fire that must have grown to that size \*awful \*fast for there not to have been some sort of accelerant. (IOW, gas) I highly doubt the interior alone could have caught fire that big/fast. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/15 "2013-05-05T20:27:11Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > That’s an \*awful \*lot of fire that must have grown to that size \*awful \*fast for there not to have been some sort of accelerant. (IOW, gas) I highly doubt the interior alone could have caught fire that big/fast. Foam cushioning can be extremely flammable. It doesn’t take long to go from smoldering to immense flames. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/16 "2013-05-05T22:17:23Z")
It was either a ciggarette or a cell phone. They are the cause of all the worlds problems. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/17 "2013-05-05T23:02:28Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Seems to me a big factor must have been electrical doors you could not open if the electrics failed. > > Which in my mind is stupid as all get out. Though when it comes to safety stuff I am a kinda belt AND suspenders kinda guy. The doors aren’t electric. They are the same mechanical doors the car came with. To build a stretch limo they take a standard car and put it in a giant band saw and cut it in half at the B pillar ( the pillar between the front and rear doors) then they weld in a plug which is nothing more than a tube whose outer profile is the same as the cut ends. Weld in the divider to the front half, weld the plug to the front half, add the interior the weld the back half on. Then all you have to do is extend the various lines, cables, and drive shaft and you have a very long vehicle that only has 4 doors. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/18 "2013-05-05T23:57:55Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > It was either a ciggarette or a cell phone. They are the cause of all the worlds problems. Either way, that driver is definitely not getting a tip. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/19 "2013-05-06T00:47:51Z")
I’ve never understood the appeal of a limousine. I’ve been in one exactly once, and that was enough for me. I’d rather be in a bus, at least you can see outside. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559/20 "2013-05-06T00:54:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Free-basing? I mean, look what it did to Richard Pryor. I don’t think anybody uses ether to free-base their cocaine anymore, now that it’s commonly distributed in a ready-to-smoke free-base form. (That’s crack, jack.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-women-killed-in-limo-fire-on-san-mateo-bridge/657559.md?page=2)