Car Fire Sets Baldwin Park Gas Station Ablaze; 2 Suspects At Large
BALDWIN PARK (CBSLA) – Authorities are investigating the bizarre circumstances surrounding a car fire which sparked a large blaze at a gas station in Baldwin Park early Monday morning.
The fire occurred at about 12:50 a.m. at a Mobile gas station in the 12600 block of East Ramona Boulevard near the 605 Freeway.
Security video provided to CBSLA showed a car pull up to a pump. The driver gets out, walks around the car and appears to be speaking to someone on the passenger side when there is some kind of flash bang and the car starts smoking. A passenger then crawls out.
The car caught fire and burst into flames. The fire then spread to the entire gas station pumping station.
The gas station clerk also told CBSLA he saw the two men pouring gas on the car before it caught fire.
"There's like a big explosion on the inside of the car, the car's on fire the guy jumps out, his face is like burnt, they're both like, they don't look they're normal, they're almost unfazed by it, even after he's burnt," the clerk said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department crews were called to the scene and eventually extinguished the blaze. No one else was hurt.
The two occupants of the car ran from the scene, meanwhile. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
According to Baldwin Park police, the clerk described one suspect as a Hispanic man, 6-feet-tall, with long hair and glasses. The other man, also Hispanic, was 25 to 30 years of age.
The two were last seen running west on Ramona Boulevard towards El Monte, police said.
The extent of the damage to the gas station was not confirmed.