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erronis

(17,648 posts)
Tue Jan 14, 2025, 08:21 PM Jan 14

Volkswagen van that survived Palisades fire in Los Angeles is a 'beacon of hope'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/14/volkswagen-van-palisades-fire



Preston Martin figured the retro blue Volkswagen van he slept in for a year during college was a goner, given that he had parked it in a Malibu neighborhood just before the Palisades fire ripped through, reducing homes and cars to rubble and charred metal.

So the surfboard maker was stunned to find that the vehicle had survived. Not only that, a photo of the vibrant bus taken by an Associated Press photographer was circulating widely on television and online, giving viewers a measure of joy.

“There is magic in that van,” Martin, 24, said Tuesday in an interview with AP. “It makes no sense why this happened. It should have been toasted, but here we are.”

Martin purchased the 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 somewhat on a whim sometime around his junior year studying mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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madaboutharry

(41,579 posts)
6. Hmmm....
Tue Jan 14, 2025, 08:48 PM
Jan 14

It looks like it just came from the car wash. I admit that I am somewhat cynical, but I am having a hard time with the veracity of this story.

chowder66

(10,101 posts)
11. It's possible that a) firefighters were there and used hoses around it and on it to keep it from burning
Tue Jan 14, 2025, 10:02 PM
Jan 14

or came around later dousing hot spots and hit the van with water b) a water drop was done over the bus c) the fire was moving parallel to the bus with the high winds.

Just throwing some ideas out there on how that could happen...but maybe it's a hoax.

electric_blue68

(19,846 posts)
12. I remember a story where this pretty big several story housing complex exploded. I -think- there were warning signs....
Tue Jan 14, 2025, 10:43 PM
Jan 14

so people got out safely.

As fire fighters went through the debris one found a perfectly intact little china tea cup. He took it, and gently placed it on a sturdy fence post with a flat top away from harm.

Haven't thought of that in a loooong time.

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