A vehicle fire on Hirst Avenue in Parksville was contained quickly Wednesday afternoon (March 7) thanks to the help of a local business owner.
Kevin Kinnear, Parks West owner, said he could smell smoke while he was inside the store, when a customer came into Parks West and said there was a vehicle on fire just outside.
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“I grabbed the extinguisher and went out to the vehicle,” said Kinnear, who added that the fire had just started and wasn’t too large.
The driver of the vehicle, who appeared shaken up but was unhurt, said she was still inside the SUV when it caught on fire.
Parksville assistant fire chief Mike Tisdelle said when he arrived on scene, Kinnear had already extinguished the fire.
The vehicle was left with a scorch mark on its rear right side, the fire having eaten through the fascia by the bumper and below the rear light.
After the fire department arrived, Tisdelle said, the firefighters poured a mixture of foam and water onto the burned area to make sure the fire was completely extinguished.
“It was fantastic that (Kinnear) had an extinguisher on premises and he was able to use it to extinguish the fire,” Tisdelle said. “If he wouldn’t have extinguished it, it would have been a much larger incident.”
See more at www.pqbnews.com.
— NEWS staff
