Disaster struck early on Friday morning for a family in Westbury, as their much loved, family car went up in flames and they were left helpless. The family became aware of a burning smell early in the morning just moments after they had woken up which unsettled the household. Neighbours across the road from the incident had noticed smoking coming from the car and thought it best to alert the family, but -in no time at all- the flames had engulfed the vehicle and nothing the family could do would change the end result of that morning.

16-year-old Sean Able (second oldest child of the family) gave his account of what occurred on that morning, “We heard the doorbell ring and it was our neighbour telling us our car was smoking, next thing we know it bursts into flames and we had to call the firefighters before it caused more severe damage.”

The car is sadly, no longer salvageable after it had been engulfed by such a fierce onslaught of flames, but the mystery of what caused the distressing event is still unsolved. The most common cause of fires in stationary vehicles is faulty wiring or a leak in the fuel system of the car. Perhaps surprisingly, these things happen all the time in a running car but are contained by the engine, so when the car isn’t in motion the result can be devastating. A freak event like this is such a wake up call, and it is of huge relief to report that no one was harmed.