ROCKLAND, Maine — Two women narrowly escaped injury Wednesday when the vehicle they were in burst into flames, which also set siding on an adjacent building on fire.
The fire closed down a section of Route 1 around noon while firefighters kept damage to a minimum for the building. The sports utility vehicle was destroyed.
Laurie Hutchinson of Cushing told the BDN she had just left an auto repair shop in Union for a leak in her fuel line. Hutchinson said she thought the repair shop fixed the problem.
When she was driving south on Main Street in Rockland and was slowed in traffic, a man on the sidewalk started yelling to get her attention. The man told her the SUV was leaving a trail of flames. Hutchinson said she attempted to pull into a parking lot, but she and her passenger noticed flames lapping up from underneath the vehicle.
The two women jumped out of the vehicle just before it was engulfed in flames.
“I only had time to grab my purse and phone,” she said.
Flames from the vehicle, which was within a few feet of a vacant commercial building at 734 Main St., ignited some of the siding. Firefighters removed some the siding from the building to make sure the fire had not gone into the building. Damage appeared to be minimal to the building, which is owned by The Everett Spear II Trust.
The vehicle was destroyed.