glad everyone is safe and sound
what is weird though if you look at the photos with all that heat and flames the rear tires did not blow or melt

I am confident my tears of joy we all got out safely and having to watch my X go up in flames would have quickly saved the day, or maybe not.

Oh dear!Scary!This happened before:(
BMW X5 Fire - Topix

and even a recall this month for the diesel heater fire:(
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/..._ids=13V339000

Holy shit, glad you all are ok.

Note to self, place metal baton into armrest.

I have read before of the X locking itself, when they burst into flames.

That was quite a spectacle, and you were lucky to have everyone rescued from Hell, including you. Glad you guys are OK.

Now the 1,000,000 question is: would you buy another one?

holy sh1t that is some scary stuff... glad everyone was okay. Please keep us updated on the investigation...

Not just Bmw! The 6 month old S320cdi Mercedes of my friend´s boss,started smoking from the central air vents .First it was white smoke ,then black and before it started flaming ,he squirted powder from car's fire extinguisher at it and that stopped it.,but not before it melted the dash,sat nav,cluster and what ever else under the dash!!.Mercedes took it away and gave him a brand new car!Maybe to shut him up,as they must know what it was!!!!!!:dunno:
Anyway,this incident is very similar to all the others reported in the link I posted above and to the OP !:(
Whats going on under these cars dashboards???Best get a fire extinguisher and play safe!

here is OEM fire extinguisher (OEM is Gloria 1kg unit, OE is the same unit branded by BMW)

http://www.xoutpost.com/880956-post30.html

Another way to play it safe is verifing EVERY fuse in a purchased used car is of the correct amp/load rating. Far too many owners/electronic installers/lame "repair techs" think popping a fuse with a higher load rating into an overloading circuit an acceptable "fix" (this happens more then you think on vehicles with added electrical items (non-OE), shady used car lot vehicles, auction "specials", high owner count vehicles.........)

These higher load fused circuits can operate fine for years and when the battery starts to fail quickly become a fire risk. Voltage drops and load/amperage draw increases, sometimes to the point of ignition.

The point I'm making is, if you aren't first owner and have not done so yet.........GET OUT THERE AND VERIFY EVERY FUSE!!!!!

And NEVER operate a vehicle that needs a jump to get it going each morning.

Where did you get this from - dealership?

I see you had both fire extinguisher and first aid kit installed in the car - must have been during your stint in Russia to please local cops and take away an easy reason to give you a fine? LOL