An amphibious assault vehicle with 15 Marines inside burst into flames during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton, California on Wednesday, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.
Although the vehicle was engulfed in flames, all of the Marines were able to escape.
However, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to talk with reporters, said that at least three Marines were being taken by helicopter to a local hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.
The extent of their injuries is not yet known.
Prayers for the injured Marines.
This is interesting. While armored vehicles catch fire more often than you might think, it's pretty rare that it involves injuries.
Each armored vehicle is equipped with a fire suppression system that can be manually activated from several locations inside and out of the vehicle. There's an automatic mode as well, but that's usually switched off in peacetime.
Once a fire does start in an armored vehicle, there's very often quite a good bit of fuel for the flames. Diesel, fabrics, rubber, plastic, ammunition and a host of other fuels.
It will be interesting to see exactly what happened here.
Well wishes and prayers Devil Dogs.
Posted by: SFC Dunlap 173d RVN | 09/14/2017 at 05:30 AM