Harry Krause wrote:

I read somewhere that a diesel fire truck engine "ran away" because of
its "inhalation" of fumes and smoke from a fire of some sort that was
spewing an incredible amount of carbon. Is this a possibility or was the
article pulling our legs?

I am a bit skeptical about that. There may have been some high
concentration of flammable vapor around but it is really a stretch to
think it would be in a concentration that the engine could burn and
produce power but not be so high as to prevent it running through lack
of oxygen or lean enough that it wouldn't have exploded from other
ignition sources in the area.

It is not impossible but sure seems so highly improbable. There are
always stories floating around about that sort of thing but I have yet
to see any proof of it happening.

I certainly don't believe it could happen due to high concentrations of
carbon in the form of dust. The air filters would have clogged solid and
the firefighters not wearing SCBA's would have choked to death on that
much soot or it would have exploded ,as in dust explosion, before it
made it to the diesel.

But then again, sometimes truth is really strange stuff.

Rick