Brake Overheated

Im not sure about that. A close family friend had his front wheel bearing on his old 1966 GM Holden seize while moving town back in 1996. He was doing 90km/h apparently when it happend. The heat started a tyre fire, which soon engulfed the tyre and his beloved Holden went up in flames and burnt to the ground. Well, it was half burnt to the ground. The front end was gone and most of interior. He had no way of extinguishing the fire sadly. He and his wife got out safely, which is the main thing. It was a $500 car! He didnt lose much of his belongings either. So it may have been a wheel bearing seize in this case with the 308. They have the same tapered roller bearing setup in the front hubs. But who knows?

 

that seems hard to believe

 

There was an incident in WRC with a rally Focus: An oil line began dripping onto those glowing brakes, and there weren't enough extinguishers at that location (on a lonely hill out on a special stage) to cool the rotor below the ignition point. When the extinguishers ran out, the car burned, pretty much completely.

 

As unlikely as it seems, DGS description is pretty accurate. I had a rear wheel bearing fry on a Pontiac back when I was a kid, and when the axle came out and the brakes popped, the brake fluid instantly ignited. I smothered it with friends jacket, but each time I pulled the jacket back the brake reignited. A trucker with a Co2 extinguisher finally got out, my friends jacket was destroyed.

If a brake line ruptured, or the caliper leaked fluid onto the front rotor and it was hot enough, it will ignite. Behind the wheel where you cant get at it and without a good extinquisher its gonna burn a while. Wonder what year that one was....another one bites the dust.