Two weeks ago, a soft drink delivery truck caught fire on California State Route 190. Death Valley National Park, It is the fourth vehicle to burn to ashes in the park within a month. While Death Valley is notorious for burning an average of a high temperature of over 100 degrees in summer, Driving through the inhospitable landscape should be an everyday experience, but the vehicles’ ability to withstand heat appears to be deteriorating as climate change worsens the already extreme conditions in Death Valley.

Firefighters on site believe that overheated brakes caused the van’s fire. the National Park Service. The driver escaped unharmed, while the truck was reduced to charred and twisted scrap. Brake fires have been reported in Death Valley.

Another fire during the month was a brake fire on a vehicle traveling down Towne Pass. On July 15, a flatbed truck caught fire while the air temperature was 120 degrees. On August 11 a semi-trailer was being pulled by a pickup truck, caught fire while driving down the same pass. However, the pickup driver believed that a propane problem in the trailer had started the fire. Spokesperson for Death Valley National Park told SFGate:

“Most vehicle fires here are caused by brakes overheating on steep slopes. That’s one of the reasons why almost every car manufacturer comes to Death Valley National Park in the summer to test their new vehicles.”

The fourth fire in this group was the strangest of all. An SUV just burst into flames on July 21 while parked in Dantes View. Officials believe an electrical problem caused the fire. It should be noted that another driver died of heat exhaustion during this series of accidents. A hiker, clearly showing symptoms of heat exhaustion, got into his car and drove down a 20-foot drop.