Another 30 seconds, and our 2014 Outlaw might have burned to the ground!
We were unloading things at a loading dock to drop off some tools I wouldn't need on my work trip to Maine
Shortly after backing up, my son noticed smoke on the side of the RV. My wife yelled that it was really smoking bad and was probably a fire starting. They ran to rescue the dogs out of the front of the RV - I grabbed a fire extinguisher.
By the time I got to the left side of the RV, flames were shooting through the vent. I opened the first bay and shut off the propane at the tank. Then I shot the fire extinguisher contents into the vent opening. The flames subsided quickly.
I opened the vent and removed the cover from the RV. Smoke was still billowing out of the upper vent, and some of the wood inside was glowing red. I gave the area another blast from the fire extinguisher, and told my wife to call the fire department.
A few minutes later, an engine company arrived. They used a heat camera inside and outside of the RV to determine if we still had any fire to worry about, but the smoke in the upper vent had subsided. The area behind the fridge was still hot to the touch, but the fire department was confident that the fire was out.
Cleaning out the vent area the following morning, I found a crack in the rubber hose, which had to have been the ignition source. I inspect all of these areas regularly. I didn't find the crack in the hose, but it's definitely there now.
I'll be tracing the hose back to a shut-off valve or a place to cap the line and tracing the wiring to see where I can replace the burned wire.
I'm also gonna be in the market for a new fridge. The old one still works (with a repaired hose) but with 400ah of house batteries and plans to add some solar panels, I think a 12v firdge will be in our near future.
