That incident is the a  same fire I had with mine and another owner had.
Mine had strange gas explosions going out the exhaust and scorched odors.
When the RV place did a quick check for me they said it had a leak somewhere
in the system and probably back in the pilot area.  I ripped it out and
inspected on the bench but didn�t find anything wrong.  Put it back in and
had a minor explosion/fire that scorched the rear paneling of the cabinet,
the curtain retainer, and liner going up to the top.  I started to grab my
extinguisher but instead just turned off the gas.  Another westy owner had
the same problem.  I got to look at his as well.  Mine was a pinhole leak in
the gas pipe at a small insignificant looking corrosion spot.  His was the
air box wasn�t sealed.  I was already looking for alternatives to having a
gas pilot out of reach.  If it had been to the front it would be much safer.
jimt

On 8/12/05 9:07 PM, "Kim Brennan" <kimbrennan@MAC.COM> wrote:

> Okay, this is >NOT< a woeful tale (or at least not yet).
> 
> I am out of town with my nice Westy Vanagon. I decided to fire up the
> fridge to provide some cool beverages during the upcoming weekend's
> activities.
> 
> For some reason it was being a bit finicky and wasn't lighting. In fact
> I could hear the igniter clicking..but I could also hear some arcing.
> Not a good sound, but I persisted....until the smoke appeared from
> behind the fridge.
> 
> it took me about 2 seconds to think and then I grabbed the halon fire
> extingusher and shot it in behind the fridge to extingush the flames.
> 
> Obviously being out of town I haven't the facilities to assess the
> damage. At a minimum I suspect I will be needing a new igniter for the
> fridge. Maybe more.
> 
>