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This is what can happen if you hook up an old style battery charger with no automatic shutoff onto a battery and walk away and don't come back. This battery happened to be in a motor home two lots West of me. Fortunately, the restored 60s Buick and the small home in the background were unscathed.

According to the Fire Dept, who were there really quickly and put the fire out fast, that was the cause of the battery exploding. My neighbor's son says that his Dad is fully insured. Lucky, lucky.

For what a modern battery charger with auo-shutoff costs that is an easily prevented loss.

If the batteries are shot they will sit there gassing until dry. I've seen batteries explode, but hydrogen reacts so quickly there weren't any signs of singeing. However, if there is a short circuit and you start charging the batteries the current load will heat things up to the point of melting. So my guess is the vehicle had dead batteries due to a short. And maybe the hydrogen gave enough of a kick to get it going.

So the moral of the story is: If your batteries are going dead disconnect them and look for the source of drain first.