An RV caught fire late Monday night near a QuikTrip on Pleasantdale Road in Doraville, and witnesses say a bystander rushed in to help the occupants escape just before the back of the vehicle exploded. Investigators are still working to determine what sparked the blaze and whether anyone was hurt.
Video sent to Channel 2 Action News showed the RV engulfed in flames, according to WSB-TV, whose reporting on the incident forms the bulk of what's publicly known so far. The fire broke out Monday night at the QuikTrip on Pleasantdale Road, and witnesses told the station that the back of the RV exploded as flames spread through the vehicle.
An eyewitness account shared on WSB-TV's social media channel offered a more precise picture of where the fire actually happened: rather than sitting parked in the QuikTrip's lot, the burning RV appears to have been stopped in the middle lane of Pleasantdale Road, directly adjacent to the gas station, when a bystander helped the people inside get out before the explosion. That detail matters for anyone trying to picture how close the danger came to the pumps themselves, even though early characterizations of the incident, including the station's own headline, described it as happening in the gas station's parking lot.
What Investigators Still Don't Know
As of Tuesday morning, investigators were still working to learn what caused the RV to catch fire in the first place, per the station's report. They're also trying to determine whether anyone was injured in the incident, since the outcome for the occupants who reportedly escaped with the bystander's help hasn't been confirmed publicly. Those two open questions, the cause of the fire and the condition of the people who were inside, remain unresolved.
The stretch of Pleasantdale Road where the fire occurred has seen public-safety disruptions before. In October 2021, the Doraville Police Department temporarily evacuated the same QuikTrip and shut down surrounding intersections after a reported bomb threat, according to FOX 5 Atlanta, before declaring the site safe. The corner sits along a busy transit corridor near major highway interchanges, which has made it a recurring site of emergency response over the years.
How Common Are RV Fires Like This One
RV fires of this kind are not rare on a national scale. The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that fire departments respond to about 4,200 recreational vehicle fires every year across the country, resulting in an average of 15 civilian deaths and 125 civilian injuries annually, according to data compiled by GovInfo. Those same fires cause an estimated $60.3 million in direct property damage nationwide each year.
Federal fire data also sheds light on why these fires happen and where they typically start. The U.S. Fire Administration reports that 36% of RV fires stem from unintentional human actions, while another 15% trace back to equipment or heat source failures. The most common area of origin is the engine, running gear, or wheel area, accounting for 26.2% of fires, followed by operator or passenger compartments at 9.1% and cooking areas at 7.7%, per the agency's statistics.
Fire safety guidance from the National Fire Protection Association requires RV operators to shut off the engine, any onboard generator, and all propane appliances, including pilot lights for water heaters and absorption refrigerators, before pulling up to a gas pump to refuel, according to a breakdown from Travels with Ted. Running electrical systems or open pilot lights near a fuel station can ignite ambient gasoline vapors. Separately, the NFPA has noted that fatal RV fires occur disproportionately in older model RVs, which often lack the automatic propane shutoff valves and interconnected smoke alarms found in newer vehicles.
It isn't yet known whether any of these common causes played a role in Monday's fire. DeKalb County Fire Rescue has not released findings on what ignited the RV or whether propane tanks contributed to the explosion witnesses described. Hoodline has not identified any injuries confirmed by officials as of this report.
