plaisted@cs.unc.edu (David Plaisted) (07/24/90)
A friend of mine had the following experience in about 1974. He had just filled up the gas tank in his pick up truck and fell asleep while driving. The pick up crossed over the median strip and hit an oncoming tractor trailer. He woke up just before impact. His vehicle caught on fire and the gas tank exploded. He was taken out of the vehicle and dragged away just before it burst into flames. Some gas leaked along the road and started the tractor trailer burning too. Everything in his vehicle burned -- seat covers, everything but metal. The battery was reduced to metal plates, nothing else. Some tools inside a tool box inside another tool box had non metallic parts melted away. His tires were burned away, only the rims being left. The only thing untouched was his King James Bible on the front seat next to him. The seat cover under it burned away, but the Bible was not even singed. There was no odor of smoke on it. I saw it in church yesterday, and not a page was scorched. The Bible was removed from the pick-up truck after the fire had gone out. Dave Plaisted