Prevention of Accidents due to Overheated or Burning Tyres
Safety Info 17/17
Transport vehicle tyre fires mainly occur when travelling on highways, but can also break out when parked after travelling. The industry continues to experience these incidents.
This Safety Information sheet identifies potential causes of tyre fires. It provides guidance on what to do in the event of an overheating or burning tyre and on prevention.
It is a revision of an existing information sheet but has been extensively revised to reflect current good practices and experience from recent incidents.
The Safety Information is intended for all personnel involved in transport operations.
Transport vehicle tyre fires mainly occur when travelling on highways, but can also break out when parked after travelling.
Causes of tyre fires
There are various causes for the overheating and ignition of a tyre, including:
- badly adjusted or badly maintained brakes,
- poorly maintained, or failure of axle component(s),
- use of non-original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or approved replacement parts or components,
- overloading of the vehicle,
- inadequate inflation of the tyres,
- loss of inflation of the tyre whilst travelling,
- overloading of one twin tyre when the other deflates,
- excessive use of the brakes,
- tyres in bad condition.
In some cases, a fire can occur after stopping because there is no longer any cooling effect from air flow during travelling.
EIGA 2017