Novato Man Starts 2-Alarm Fire When Car He Was Working On Explodes
NOVATO (CBS SF) -- Firefighters extinguished a two-alarm fire Saturday afternoon in Novato that started when the owner of a Chevrolet Nova started his car.
Firefighters responded at 4:47 p.m. to a fire in a detached garage in the 700 block of Cherry Street, according to fire officials.
The owner of the Nova was working on the car inside the garage when he started it and smelled a chemical odor, fire officials said.
He shut the car off. When he started it again the engine exploded and caught fire, according to fire officials.
The car's owner escaped and a neighbor called 911, fire officials said.
Firefighters kept the fire from spreading to the adjacent home, which was only two feet from the garage, according to fire officials.
Firefighters had the fire under control at 5:12 p.m. and limited the damage to about $100,000, fire officials said.
The fire in the garage spread to a hillside and burned half an acre before firefighters extinguished it, according to fire officials.
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