I use to work on cars with my dad. We always added water to the radiator along with the anti-freeze, which I would think make it less flammable unless all the water was boiled off. From what I read after blinging anti-freeze combustible, it will burn but, it isn’t all that easy. With water added to the radiator I would think it would be near impossible.
Do BMW's use some other type of antifreeze, different from other vehicles? Something more flammable?
If she had crashed into a tree, drunk, no one would blink an eye. It's the whole backing up in the garage, the radiator gets punctured, and the headlights set the antifreeze on fire, that makes most of us go, really?
There is also the fact that she was supposedly leaving for the airport. With acute alcohol intoxication? Most people who drink when they fly at least wait until they get to the airport to start drinking. I find it implausible that she would have been drinking heavily the night before and still be able to get herself up and out the door at 5 am with that much alcohol in her blood. I also find it implausible that she could have done so quietly enough that her husband was not aware of it, nor that she was in the vehicle when he was told there was a fire.
There are all kinds of things I suspect that are not being told here, and I find the timing very interesting. Was she about to get a large bonus for facilitating the buyout of her company by Duke Power (a NC-based company; she was from NC) and perhaps there was a disagreement as to the disposition of the bonus? Was there a boyfriend/girlfriend involved somewhere? Were there financial difficulties and a large life insurance policy? Lots of possibilities, few answers!
The radiator fluid for this car is probably a pre-mix like mine.
I am guessing that she didn’t add water, but used BMW antifreeze.