Fire Investigation – Dump Truck

Finch was instructed to investigate the cause and origin of a fire on a Komatsu dump truck at a mine in Africa.

A Senior Consultant from Finch Consulting was instructed upon the request of the instructing Loss Adjuster.

Our Consultant made arrangements with the Insured for the site visit and identified critical people for witness statements and conducted a site visit on arriving into the country. The site visit was conducted in conjunction with the Insured’s engineers to facilitate access and to progress the claim in a timely manner.

Finch conducted a thorough inspection of the incident dump truck and reviewed a similar truck to verify findings as main sections of the incident truck were damaged and many parts disintegrated.

On-board computer records and video evidence was also reviewed for completeness. The video evidence showed that the fire started very slowly and then almost instantaneously spread leading to the damage to the driver’s cab located at the top of the dump truck.

Maintenance and operations check records were also verified with manufacturers recommendations to identify any issues. No issues were found.

The inspection and 3 witness statements were collated and completed within 1.5 days. The witness statement of the cab driver verified the findings further. One of the witness statements was taken from the dump truck driver, who’s close proximity assisted in informing Finch’s findings.

Cause of Failure

Finch discovered that the probable cause and origin of the failure was as a result of a rupture to the hydraulic brake hose that released under a pressure of 2500psi over the low-pressure exhaust pipes leading to the ignition of the brake hose fluid.