No one was injured when a car caught fire about 2:30 a.m. Friday.
In the middle of a snowstorm, Park City crews traversed the unplowed road to find the burning vehicle just past the seasonal closure gate in Jeremy Ranch.
“Within about a quarter mile they started seeing a glow of the fire," said Battalion Chief Sean Briley. "They pulled up, saw three occupants standing a pretty significant distance away.”
He said firefighters found the occupants far away from the car because they were afraid it would explode. Briley said that happens in the movies but not in real life.
Fire crews quickly put out the flames at a scene he said is common.
“At least a weekly occurrence," Briley said. "They're one of the more difficult ones to determine cause just because there's so many different ignition points. And then there's flammable materials with the gasoline and so forth.”
Occupants told crews they saw fluid leaking out of the car. When they got out to investigate, flames were coming out from under the car near the gas pedal.
Authorities have not determined what sparked the fire but Briley said routine maintenance can help prevent similar incidents.
“A lot of these are kind of older model cars," he said. "They're just caused probably due to lack of routine maintenance changing belts, changing all your fluids, having your breaks replaced.”
East Canyon Road closed for the season as planned Friday morning. It will reopen in the spring.
