Ambulance Oxygen Cylinder Explosion?

[Paulo]

A man has died outside an Irish hospital following an explosion in an ambulance. Both paramedics were injured, 1 seemingly quite badly burned and the other less seriously.

According to the media it is suspected that the explosion was caused by an oxygen cylinder exploding.

RIP

http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/elderly-patient-dead-ambulance-worker-critical-after-ambulance-catches-fire-outside-hospital-35070801.html

[Paulo]

The head of the Health Service Executive (HSE, our version of the NHS for want of a better description) was interviewed on the news earlier on this evening and confirmed that it was looking like an o2 cylinder "explosion".

[iain/hsm]

Nice find Paulo.

Clearly they have no idea at this stage what caused the fire, only one effect.
Sadly this is about as far as you will be told.

There are quite a few examples of new cab design fires resulting eventually in the gas cylinders failing.

East Surrey had a fire in June 2016 it was well going before the oxygen, or nitrox oxide cylinders overheated and failed
Price you pay for having lowest commen denominator van driver/builders build in your oxygen kit with the cheapest vendor
component parts at the lowest tender.

Video enclosed below shows the plastic van cab nicely on fire before the inevitable cylinder wall failure.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/horrifying-footage-shows-ambulance-explode-8131388

[iain/hsm]

Here's the photo I was looking for:

Cab all burnt out (and covered) hole in plastic box side panels showing one of the oxygen cylinders still sitting there.

http://www.thejournal.ie/ambulance-naas-2992066-Sep2016/

[iain/hsm]

And another one last month August 2016 in Dumbarton

http://stv.tv/news/west-central/1363124-ambulance-caught-fire-near-helensburgh-due-to-mechanical-fault/

[cotochris]

The O2 would be a contributing factor but there has to be a source of ignition for the O2 to contribute to the fire, no?

Horrible case though.. well done for the bravery of the paramedics.

[Neilwood]

The O2 would be a contributing factor but there has to be a source of ignition for the O2 to contribute to the fire, no?

Horrible case though.. well done for the bravery of the paramedics.

With high concentrations of O2 the requirements for a fire are dramatically reduced. Something like a switch being flicked (ever noticed the slight flash when using a switch in the dark?) could be enough to trigger a fire (pure O2 will make almost anything combustible).

[Paulo]

A rep of the national ambulance service was interviewed earlier. He said there were a number of cylinders onboard the vehicle. This pic shows the 2 "permanent" ones are still okay but there would be a number of smaller o2 cylinders as well seemibgly