Update: Car goes off road, on fire, along Marine View Drive

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand, added 4:08 am)
FIRST REPORT, 3:17 AM: Big response to a fire in the 9800 block of Marine View Drive SW (map). First crews on scene say it looks like it involves a burning car.

3:29 AM UPDATE: This was originally dispatched as a house fire but so far we’ve only heard the car mentioned, with one person inside, who got out OK. They’ve already called for the SFD investigator and for a tow truck. Our crew should be there shortly for a firsthand look. Police are in the area and have Marine View Drive blocked off starting in the 9600 block.

3:47 AM UPDATE: Our crew learned at the scene that the burning car caught a tree on fire, close to a motor home, and that’s part of what prompted the big initial response (a commenter points this out too). Police are now questioning the driver, who is OK but “uncooperative,” for reasons yet unknown (added: and is apparently going to the hospital after all); the car went onto an embankment, and whether that was because of the fire or somehow caused the fire, isn’t known yet either. The car has major fire damage.

SUNDAY NOON UPDATE: We’ve updated the map link above; a nearby resident explains that Google Maps have a glitch and show this block as quite some distance south of where it actually is. (The address on SFD’s online log wasn’t the exact location anyway, which sometimes happens with fire calls, and is why we just use block numbers in stories.)

breezygirl August 31, 2014 (3:20 am)

Thanks for the quick update! I heard all the sirens and wondered what was going on!

WSB August 31, 2014 (3:24 am)

Big response because it was initially dispatched as a house fire.

Jshy August 31, 2014 (3:29 am)

I can see the fire from my deck directly east. There was a really loud POP POP POP sound that woke us up – sounded like gunshots. Pretty giant flames, one of the tall firs behind the houses is also on fire. I heard someone shouting move the motor home. Looks like they are containing it quickly.

WSB August 31, 2014 (3:36 am)

Thank you. Sounds like they’ve dismissed a few more units.

TT August 31, 2014 (4:50 am)

This happened on our property. We live in the house below. This is the third car that has gone off the road on this stretch of Marine view in past 2 years. One car took out the fire hydrant, another our gas meter and now this accident. I understand my neighbors have asked for a guardrail on this stretch of road with no success. They really need to do something about the speed on this road and a guardrail. Thank god for the trees or this car would have been on top of my garage.

Sandra DeMers August 31, 2014 (8:27 am)

This happened next to our home. They were yelling “Don’t move the motorhome” or we would have moved it. The flames got very close to it. It is just amazing that the man got out of this alive and there was no damage to any property other than to his car. I was very concerned about the house below the fire, and agree that we need a guardrail.

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