Why didn't the fuel ignite and explode in that Recent Toronto accident involving a big rig?

In Toronto the other day a Big Rig had rear ended a Mazda Protege killing somebody. The big rig jumped onto the center divider and was tangling on top of the divider made of metal posts. All the diesel leaked out of that 18 wheelers tanks. It was a lot of diesel! Only no fire engulfed everyone in flames like what you see with accidents involving SUVs. Why is that? Is it because diesel is like Kerosene and it doesn't ignite from a spark or flame? In other words, it is much more stable. It would appear that diesel is much safer to use for motorized vehicles.