Santa Maria Police Report Stolen Car Inside Garage
Santa Maria Police have released new information about the fire that injured one man in Santa Maria.
SMPD reported a stolen car was inside the garage attached to the home.
The owner of the vehicle said she never imagined the house fire would involve her.
“I was watching the news, but it never came to my mind that my car was the one that was there,” said Laura Perez-Pantoja.
Police reported the man was working on the car when it caught fire.
It happened at about 7:00pm Tuesday night when neighbors on the 2400 block of North Bentley Avenue heard the screams of the man who was badly burned in the fire that appears to have started in his garage.
“We heard him screaming, I mean he was running around here in a panic, the next thing you know the garage started exploding, I don’t know what he was doing in there”, says neighbor Raul Campos Sr, “the guy was doing something in his garage and he lit himself on fire, he came out running on fire and then the next thing you know the whole garage is on fire.”
The Santa Maria Fire Department says it responded to the fire with everything it had available.
“The garage was fully involved in flames and the flames had extended into the interior of the house”, says SMFD Battalion Chief Ed Hadfield, “there was a significant burn patient that was outside of the home and the firefighters had to begin patient care and manage that as well as initiate an aggressive interior attack into the structure.”
The official cause of the fire remains under investigation, damage to the home is significant including the garage which appears to be a total loss.
Neighbor Raul Campos Sr. says he did his best to make sure no one else was hurt in the fast-moving fire.
“We just made sure all the kids were out and made sure everything was secured”, Campos says.
The unidentified man badly burned in fire is expected to be taken to a special burn center in the L.A. area for treatment.
Slideshow: Santa Maria Man Badly Burned in House Fire 29416778
