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Alright so by now, some who follow this blogger are aware that Tuesday evening, October 20, 2012 between 6:45-6:50pm,
my PT Cruiser was totally destroyed by fire as it was engulfed in
flames on the Interstate in Florida. I
was taking my son for Thanksgiving festivities with the family. I had last texted via voice at 6:40pm. A few minutes later while
driving in the center lane, I noticed my car began to smoke slightly and
found it strange that the Sheriff in the fast lane next to me was
speeding by me so quickly. My car soon started to stall & the engine
light came on so I shifted and lightly applied the breaks as best I
could and made it through the fast lane into the grassy left shoulder of
the Interstate. I knew it was bad, got out with my keys, unbuckled the baby and took him out of the car while calling his Mother to come get
him. Thick gray smoke began to billow from under the hood, and I knew it
was best to get as far away from the car as possible as I knew what was
going to happen. Fire was coming soon. No time to panic or try to
gather valuables, I ran with him as far away from the car as possible.
Eventually while on the phone with roadside assistance from my insurance company, I was at enough of an angle that I could see the undercarriage of the car start to spark, and within a few minutes the entire car was engulfed in flames. My thoughts now that my son & I were safe was that I'd better a) post on Facebook immediately so my family & friends would know that there was a problem but that we were alright as well as alerting my business partners that obviously I would not be making it to photograph our event and b) take pictures of the car for insurance purposes.
At some point, a volunteer firefighter heading in the opposite direction came over with his wife & baby in their truck, gave me a blanket for my son & checked to see what he could do to help. I called 9-1-1, but emergency vehicles were already on very close by, and soon arrived. It took a few minutes for firefighters to extinguish the blaze and I hoped that my son's favorite bike and new clothes could be extracted from the rear hatch. No such luck. I confirmed that a tow truck would be there in 40 minutes or so to tow my car the 15 miles or less limit to the dealership where I bought the car last June 2011. The Sheriff then gave me a ride to a restaurant nearby where I ordered 2 biscuits and gravy with 1 scrambled egg. I ate the $2.00 dinner while waiting for my friend & business partner to come pick me up from South Tampa. There are some other minor details to the story, but I'm no longer interested in writing.
POSITIVES:
My 2004 PT Cruiser caught fire after the engine stalled, 11-20-12.
Eventually while on the phone with roadside assistance from my insurance company, I was at enough of an angle that I could see the undercarriage of the car start to spark, and within a few minutes the entire car was engulfed in flames. My thoughts now that my son & I were safe was that I'd better a) post on Facebook immediately so my family & friends would know that there was a problem but that we were alright as well as alerting my business partners that obviously I would not be making it to photograph our event and b) take pictures of the car for insurance purposes.
At some point, a volunteer firefighter heading in the opposite direction came over with his wife & baby in their truck, gave me a blanket for my son & checked to see what he could do to help. I called 9-1-1, but emergency vehicles were already on very close by, and soon arrived. It took a few minutes for firefighters to extinguish the blaze and I hoped that my son's favorite bike and new clothes could be extracted from the rear hatch. No such luck. I confirmed that a tow truck would be there in 40 minutes or so to tow my car the 15 miles or less limit to the dealership where I bought the car last June 2011. The Sheriff then gave me a ride to a restaurant nearby where I ordered 2 biscuits and gravy with 1 scrambled egg. I ate the $2.00 dinner while waiting for my friend & business partner to come pick me up from South Tampa. There are some other minor details to the story, but I'm no longer interested in writing.
POSITIVES:
- We are in perfect health.
- I was scheduled to make my car payment that week. I procrastinated while waiting for a check to be deposited into my bank account. I would have felt sick had I spent all that money on a car I no longer had.
- All is well that ends well.
