Northside Vehicle Fire This Morning

At approximately 10 a.m. this morning the San Angelo Fire Department responded to a call for a vehicle fire at an apartment complex located at 17 W. 31 St. According to Fire Investigator Karla Steppe, the vehicle blaze was extinguished quickly by fire fighters on scene.

Steppe said she spoke with a resident at the apartment complex who indicated that the vehicle belonged to a friend of hers. The resident stated that the vehicle owner did not live at the complex, but on occasion would leave a vehicle or boat trailer on the property for safe keeping, and would return later on to retrieve it. Last night the same person left a 1993 blue/silver two tone Chevy Suburban in the complex parking lot, which was the vehicle ablaze at the time of the response from SAFD.

“An unknown good samaritan had removed all of the personal contents that were in the vehicle and placed them over by the fence about 25 feet away from the vehicle,” Steppe said. “I believe that the cause of the fire was a mechanical failure. I found some receipts (in the personal belongings) for miscellaneous car parts that support that [theory].”   

Steppe said that during her physical investigation of the vehicle, which was a total loss, it was discovered the fire started in the engine compartment and spread throughout the passenger compartment. No injuries were sustained by anyone around the vehicle fire and there was no damage reported to the complex structure itself.