Caught in a Blaze

"One of our deputies drove to our patrol office and went inside for roll call. The brakes on his car must have been locked and heated to a combustible temperature and caught fire while the deputy was in the building. It wasn't until a citizen passing by noticed the flames coming from the engine compartment that the fire department was dispatched.

The deputy had a Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 mounted in the the driver's compartment of the car. It was estimated that the temperature inside the driver's compartment reached upwards of 1000 degrees. The dash board was melted and everything in the glove box was incinerated. The laptop screen was down and the computer was off at the time. The fire department extinguished the flames, drenching the laptop with hundreds of gallons of high pressure water.

After the fire was out, the laptop was removed from the vehicle and placed in a plastic garbage bag. No attempt was made to dry or clean off the computer. I was given the computer two days later and put it in the back of my truck because it smelled so bad of smoke. After it had aired out for a week I took it into my office to see what I could salvage from the computer. I was doubtful there would be anything usable. I noted the back of the laptop had experienced such intense heat that it melted some of the ports. Just for fun, I hit the power switch and was shocked when I saw the hard drive and battery lights come on. I watched in amazement as the LCD lit up and the computer booted to windows without a hitch. These are the TOUGHEST computers in the world! This is the reason why we have been loyal Panasonic customers for the last 10 years!"

-Sgt. David Northcraft, Information Technology Manager, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office