AceShowbiz - The members of rock act Fear Factory escaped unscathed after a freak fire engulfed their tourbus in the early hours of Thursday morning, August 5. The group was traveling to London after a show in Sheffield, north England when their driver spotted smoke coming from beneath the bus and pulled over on the M1 motorway to investigate.

He then noticed fire and alerted the band and crew to evacuate the bus - but guitarist Dino Cazares reveals not everyone heeded the warnings. A statement from the rocker readers, "Everyone grabbed there (sic) bags and ran off the bus. We stood on the side of the freeway going, 'Thank god we all made it out' until someone noticed our merchandise guy was still asleep on the bus, so our good friend ran back on the smoke-filled bus and got him out just minutes before the bus was completely in flames."

The band was left suffering smoke-related side effects - but Cazares is just grateful to be alive after the devastating fire. He adds, "Our eyes are burning and we were all coughing from the smoke. Some of us lost wallets, money, computers etc... But that's not important compared to our lives."

"It only took about 20 to 30 minutes for the bus to be completely covered in flames. The fire trucks and the police finally arrived, but it was too late to save anything on the bus. We found out early this morning that the trailer was saved and the bus is just a metal frame on the side of the road. They had to scrape up what was left of the bus from the road because it melted into the pavement."

It's the band's second scare on the road - in May their tourbus driver fell asleep at the wheel of the vehicle and woke up just in time to avoid a smash.