WARNING! Be careful riding quads / 4 wheelers in the dry leaves! COOKED a Yfz 450 !

[03600]

So my stepson and I decide to go ride our quads in southern Indiana yesterday evening. I got stuck in a gully full of leaves, tires just kept spinning. So, I hop off and start to turn it by dragging the front bumper over and I start smelling burning leaves. HOLY SH*T I scream and start pulling out the burning leaves that are all around the engine. I ran 100 yards to the house and by the time I got the fire extinguisher out of the garage, I heard a big WOOF! The gas tank went and there were 15 feet high flames. It was so intense, you couldn't even tell there was a quad in the fire. Totally engulfed. It all happened so damn fast. Luckily the fire dept got there quick and got the surrounding area out before it caught my moms house on fire. (Flames were racing up the hill towards the house.) Everything is so dry here in Indiana right now, just putting a quad in a leaf pile for a few seconds and this is what happens!

here's what it was just minutes before this all happened....

here's what happens just 3 minutes after it all started. Imagine running towards this with a little home fire extinguisher in your hands. HA! I dropped it and pulled out the cell phone camera at this point.

Here's what's left....notice my stepson making me feel better about the whole situation!

Just very thankful nobody was hurt and the fire didn't take down my moms beautiful home. Plus the fact that I insured them helps too! I'm still bummed though because this machine was nearly perfect and ran flawless. The exact quad I've wanted for a while and now I know I'll have to settle for something less when I go to replace it.

 

[Mayo5]

Wow, I've never heard of this happening.

 

[DaBigBone]

holy crap

 

[jeffthagiraffe]

crazy cant say i have ever heard of something like that happening and ive been riding for a long time

 

[F8LBITEva]

sucks dude. Good luck with the insurance claim.

 

[Daniel]

damn that sucks

 

[Coiled03]

Wow, I've never heard of this happening.

So, you've never heard of dry leaves catching on fire in the presence of high temperature? :??:

 

[Buddy17]

where are you at in southern indiana??

 

[Z28]

Wow that is crazy, I've ridden in leaves numerous times and never thought twice about it. That was a very nice looking 450, but at least no one was hurt.

 

[03600]

Most all of Indiana has a burn ban in effect right now because everything is so dry. Because of that, the leaves have piled up in the gully nearly 3 feet deep. Where I crossed the dirt was cut out about 2' wide and 2' deep. Got the front tires through it and the rears got stuck and just spun. I think it was bottomed out in the ditch (normally a little stream through there). All that riding we did before hand got the header pipe so freakin hot....and being totally submerged in a 3' pile of leaves.....that's all it took to create one little flame. Normal trail / woods riding probably would have never done this. It was the burying of the quad in a pile of super dry leaves that was stuck there for a good 15 seconds that was enough to get it started. I've always had a healthy fear of fire and know it's nothing to play around with, but the speed of how quick this all happened just baffles me.

 

[DirtyD916]

Glad to see you're okay and that you insured them. Must feel good to know you got it covered!

 

[03600]

where are you at in southern indiana??

Brown County / Nashville area

 

[03600]

Glad to see you're okay and that you insured them. Must feel good to know you got it covered!

VERY TRUE! If I just had one, I probably wouldn't have, but I got my stepson a TRX 250 so he could ride with me and thought I had better. My main fear was just theft insurance in case someone broke into my moms home out in the country and stole them. I told my insurance guy that I didn't want collision and all that crap, just comprehensive. Luckily I did that and paid the premiums just in case.

 

[shelbymopar89]

Did it have an aftermarket pipe on it? I have seen pipes with no spark arrestor's start fires before..........

 

[03600]

nope, totally stock pipe as you see in the pic. Thought about changing it but never did. It wasn't started from the rear, the flames started right at the base of the engine where the pipe comes out of the head. We frantically pulled leaves out for about 5 seconds (which is a long time with flames in your face and a gas tank in front of your head) trying to clear the engine area of the fire / leaves, but no luck of course.

 

[VirtualSVT]

Wow. I've seen trucks catch tall grass on fire before but never thought about a quad doing it..

 

[94venomV8]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but instead of running 100yds to the house why did you and your step son just push the quad out of danger and then worry about the leaves a minute later? I just know that I have never had a quad so stuck that two people couldnt lift it out. Sorry for your loss it sucks but just wondering how it was so stuck?

 

[Sonic605hp]

Hope you have some sort of insurance for that thing.

 

[Liv4Spd]

Hope you have some sort of insurance for that thing.

Should buff right out :kaboom:

 

[CobraBob]

Wow, that sucks! Sorry to hear your quad burned to the ground. Just out of curiosity, are there any warnings issued to not ride when the ground is super dry like that? I would think property owners would discourage it for fear of a fire starting, since there are a lot of leaves on the ground this time of year. Thankfully nobody got hurt, and the resulting fire got put out before greater damage resulted.