A Beresfield man has narrowly escaped uninjured after his car burst into flames as he was driving to Green Hills to buy lunch.
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Brian Thurling said his Jeep Wrangler began to backfire as he was travelling on the New England Highway at Ashtonfield on Sunday afternoon before he heard a loud bang and saw flames appear in his rear view mirror.
Firefighters were called to the scene and extinguished the blaze, but the vehicle was destroyed.
“I stayed pretty calm, I thought: ‘this is no good’, stopped, got out and grabbed the fire extinguisher,” Mr Thurling said.
“Unfortunately, I hadn’t checked the extinguisher and it was [empty], so I grabbed my wallet and keys and got away.
“Some bystanders had an extinguisher, but by the time he was able to get to it, the fire was too big.”
When the soft canopy of the Jeep caught alight, the fire almost reached overhanging tree branches.
While he was shaken up from the incident, Mr Thurling escaped the fire uninjured.
“I’m feeling all right, I’m just a little bit bummed out because I loved that car,” he said.
“We’ve had the car for a number of years and it’s been going great, but it looks like a fuel line has ruptured underneath.
“It’s the last thing you expect to happen and it is a bit scary especially when you pull over and see the flames and think ‘I’ve got to get out of this’.”