Car gutted by fire in grocery parking lot

While all hands from the Aberdeen Fire Department were responding to a bus crash on the Wishkah River Bridge on Wednesday, a car caught fire in a parking lot at a grocery store near the Aberdeen/Hoquiam border.

AFD, with assistance from the Hoquiam Fire Department, quickly extinguished the fire, said AFD fire services specialist Mitch Housden.

“All the resources were tapped. We were only able to send one person on a firetruck and one person in a command vehicle,” Housden said. “We had to request Hoquiam for mutual aid.”

The call had come in at 2:51 p.m., Housden said. When firefighters arrived on scene, smoke and flames from the vehicle, a new-model Dodge Charger, were clearly visible. Firefighters quickly extinguished the car, which was towed from the scene.

The car is a total loss, Housden said. The cause of the fire is unknown, but is not being treated as a criminal investigation. No one was injured in the fire.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or michael.lockett@thedailyworld.com.