Sunday saw a wildfire burn through rural Colorado, drawing a multi-agency response during hot summer temperatures. Amidst the blaze, a Tesla Cybertruck was completely destroyed, burned to the ground as authorities fought to contain the fire, which broke out in scrubland on private property.
As per reports from the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, emergency crews attended the fire in the Coventry Hill area just after 1 PM on Sunday afternoon. Along with deputies from the San Miguel and Montrose Sheriff’s offices, Norwood Fire, Naturita Fire, and Paradox Fire crews also reported to the scene where a Cybertruck was on fire, along with a woodchipper it was towing behind. Thick black smoke could be spotted in the air as 30 firefighters engaged to suppress the flames. US Fish and Wildlife soon joined the fight, supplying additional crews and apparatus to help contain the blaze.
The efforts of emergency responders saw the fire 90% contained just two hours after crews arrived on scene. However, that wasn’t fast enough to save the Cybertruck caught in the blaze. The EV pickup was burned to the ground, leaving little more than a bare metal shell sitting in the dust. It’s a harrowing look at what survives—and what doesn’t—when a fire overtakes a vehicle.
It’s unclear whether the Cybertruck was merely caught in the blaze, or whether it may have been the cause of the fire. Either way, the destruction was all but total. The vehicle’s interior is entirely gone, along with all the windows and the plastic components that typically line areas such as the front trunk. The front bumper and lights are also missing, as are all the tires, while the front right wheel has melted down to little more than a hub. The stainless steel panels have also suffered some deformation from the sheer heat.
Flipping around to a rear view, and the damage is even worse. The entire rear sail panel on the Cybertruck has melted and deformed into something unrecognizable. The entire rear tray of the vehicle is little more than ash and cinders. It appears that some of the stainless steel panels, as well as the rear aluminum castings have sagged or melted from the intense heat of the flames.
Interestingly, the Vermeer woodchipper trailer survived the blaze comparatively unscathed. Its tires remained intact, despite the dirt beneath the trailer suggesting at least some sort of scrub fire passed by underneath. There are also some soot or scorch marks on the trailer, closest to the Cybertruck itself, but much of it looks in fairly good condition.
We really don’t know what started the fire; what we do know is that the trailer appears to have held up better than the truck. It’s perhaps hard to understand how a scrub fire could be so intense around the truck to destroy everything not made of metal, while leaving the trailer behind relatively intact. Indeed, it’s entirely possible that an external fire engulfed the truck and trailer, which then may have caused a secondary fire to take place in the Cybertruck itself. It’s plausible that the intense heat of a battery fire may have caused the extreme damage seen in these images.
At present, authorities have stated that the cause of the fire is still unknown. The Autopian contacted the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office for comment and is awaiting a response at the time of writing. Norwood Fire District indicated the matter was still under investigation on Sunday evening.
Until we have a decisive comment on what caused the fire, it’s difficult to draw any serious conclusions about what happened. However, what we can say is that even the stainless steel body of a Cybertruck is no match for fierce fire and flames. More as we have it.
Image credits: San Miguel County Sheriff – Colorado
Some people say it’s a landmark vehicle. Some people say it’s a land fill vehicle.
Seem better off buying that woodchipper than a Cybertruck, no matter the use case scenario.
Need a statement vehicle that gets noticed? Drag around a Woodchipper.
Got some trees and limbs you need destroyed? Woodchipper.
Need to hide your criminal life in Fargo? Woodchipper.
Need some side-gig, Cybermoney? Paint it silver. CyberWoodchipper.
Run into Elon? You know the answer.
Waiting for the Fargo reference. You did not disappoint.
I would imagine that the Vermeer chipper is made of a pretty stout gauge of metal whereas the truck is only as heavy as it needs to be to be.
That said, that looks like severely annealed not melted to me.
My grandfather had a forge that could get steel to a pretty limp state on coal or wood if I was cranking fast enough. I think it was intended for shoeing horses, but it was involved in press fitting some bushings, and various hand forged projects, made some nice hinges and latches.
If you stoked the woodchipper fire with a battery pack, I bet it would burn pretty well.
Oh yeah, no, I’m betting that part at least started with the truck. Lithium fires can get up to 3,200°F, the type of stainless steel used in the Cybertruck starts melting at 2,550°F, and wood combusts spontaneously at 550°F. Meanwhile even the strongest brush fires never get past 1,600°F, and only wildly out of control forest fires exceed 2,000°F. Ain’t no way this was a natural fire by my eyes.
Are you aware of the firestorm effect?
Dragging trailer chains have caused many fires. That’s my guess since woodchippers are usually towed by larger vehicles.
Interesting – what’s the mechanism for a trailer chain to start a fire?
The steel hits a flint and you get some big fat sparks?
So that’s what the aftermath of a literal dumpster fire looks like.
Jet fuel doesn’t melt steel beams.
We were waiting for that one.
Does a nice job of softening them though.
The only good Wank Panzer is one that’s been burned to the axles.
Stop supporting Nazi’s.
I have a CT and am German, your generalizations are as stupid as they are uncalled for. Grow up.
I agree the position is somewhat childish in the way it’s expressed, but it is not necessarily wrong to associate support of an Elon Musk company with support of the man’s political views nowadays. Much of the credibility and valuation of most of those companies, are a result of not much more than the cult of personality he has developed.
Serious question for you though somewhat off topic…As a German, how do you view the salutes Elon gave when Trump was elected and his AfD endorsements? Do you think it’s fair or correct to associate him with the far right ideology or is that an oversimplification or something else?
As a cyber truck owner, did you buy before or after all those things? If after, did his actions at all influence your decision to buy?
I’m genuinely curious how folks in other parts of the world view him, and particularly in your country, for (I think) obvious reasons, and would be interested in your perspective if you’re willing to share.
He may be of German decent, or even a German immigrant, but if he owns a CyberTruck it’s probably not in Germany. Not sold there – too dangerous to other road users, as in much of Europe. A few have been privately imported, but some countries have been kicking them out none-the-less.
Yes, impossible to register as a ”car”. There are probably some creative loopholes around the regulation, esp. national regulation, as there are grey imports of US pickups. And lately some official importers as well – but those trucks are officially classed as light trucks (over 3.5t) with less rules e.g. about the pedestrian safety and truck specific requirements, esp. the 80 (~90) km/h speed restrictor. And a truck license is needed as well. There is some sort of individual/small scale import scheme as well, but it helps mostly with USDM/JDM emissions and lights etc. Still, I would not be terribly surprised that someone finds a way to register a Cybertruck in EU, but as a passenger vehicle flying down the autobahn – not likely.
Let us talk about the Elon’s salute and let us talk about the media misrepresenting politicians/political groupies on both sides of the aisle.
Have you seen the video clip of the moment when Elon reportedly gave a Nazi salute? It is maybe 15 seconds long and it may change your perception of his hand and arm motion. It is very easy to take a single frame from a video and freeze it, and sure enough… you have a nazi salute.
The same photo “gotcha!” has been done to Hillary Clinton, Obama, Biden, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Ronald McDonald. At some point in an event they made an arm motion with a flattened hand stretched out and a single frame was captured and it sure looks like they are giving a Nazi salute. It’s quite comical, but nothing to be taken seriously – unless one allows themselves to be manipulated and has a need to have their bias confirmed for whatever reason.
Now, will you take the time to find out if Musk actually gave the salute or didn’t, or will you just disregard what could be the truth and insist that he gave a salute as he is aligned with some modern day Nazi party?
And you know what Mulder always says…
Very good work knocking down the fire before it grew. It’s still early in the season but that area looks like a tinderbox already.
I was going to say, “the Tesla was probably just caught in the brushfire” but from looking at the pictures, it sure looks like the fire started with it.
Very glad the fuel in the wood-chipper didn’t ignite.
I really hope that woodchipper survived and can be repainted and put back into service.
It’s a priceless Vermeer!
Fair, as long as it runs then all is well in the world.
Trump airstrike. I’m calling it.