When a car in flames is parked next to a gas pump, the situation presents an obvious risk to public safety, but prompt responses by officers of the Perry Police Department and firefighters of the Perry Volunteer Fire Department stopped the danger Monday about 6 p.m. at the Kum & Go store at 1115 141st St.
The blaze apparently began with overheated wiring in the engine compartment of a station wagon.
“The driver told us that when he got there, he smelled insulation or wiring burning,” said Brian Eiteman, first assistant chief of the Perry Volunteer Fire Department. “There was a mechanic that happened to be parked next to him getting gas, and the mechanic said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got some wires that are too close to your manifold.’ By the time he came back out, smoke started rolling out from underneath his car and we got what we got.”
Perry Police Department officers were first on the scene. They used handheld fire extinguishers to control the blaze until the fire trucks arrived.
“The PD was there early,” Eiteman said, “and they got a couple of fire extinguishers on it, which knocked it down enough that when we got there, it was just starting to build back up, and we were able to put it out within a matter of a few minutes.”
Eiteman said fewer than 100 gallons of water were drawn from the tanker’s 1,600-gallon capacity in order to douse the car fire. He said the westerly wind kept the heat of the blaze away from the gasoline pumps.
“The pump didn’t even get warm,” he said.
There were no injuries in the incident.
ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.
