Over $2 million in cars has gone up in smoke on a car dealer’s lot in California.
Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come. California is typically prone to brush fires, and as we head into the peak of the dry season, we’re likely to see more of them as all the vegetation dries out in the blazing sun.
And then becomes literally blazing when a careless driver leaves a sparking chain behind them.
That’s what happened, according to witnesses speaking to 23ABC News Bakersfield. A chain used to hold down the load of a semi-truck was dragging along the highway near Bakersfield, California and was leaving sparks as it impacted the pavement. One of those sparks ignited the grass near a CarMax lot, which quickly grew into an uncontrolled brush fire.
The fire then it the car lot and that was all she wrote. Cars starting burning left and right. From the photos on ABC, we can see a burned-out Kia Stinger, Toyota Sienna, and some Chevy or GMC pickups. Many others are far too badly burned to even identify, but there appear to be quite a few minivans also reduced to chars and cinders.
Total damage is estimated to be $2.1 million, with 60 vehicles damaged and 26 vehicles totally destroyed.
The fire happened Monday afternoon and was even caught on camera. You can see CarMax employees encouraging stunned patrons to evacuate the area as firefighters arrive to douse burning cars.
No injuries were reported, but that’s just the physical damage. Nobody should have to sit and watch that many cars go up in flames, and certainly not something as impressive as a Kia Stinger. That car was made to be driven, not be put to the torch.
So far nobody has been able to locate the driver of the semi-truck that started the flames, but you can bet they’ll be in for a HUGE fine and possible litigation once they do.
(via Autoblog)