I do seem to have been involved with/witnessed more than my fair share of car fires in my life. Here's another to add to the list... :(
Woke up at 12:30am this morning, hearing this "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" sound coming from the general area of my clock radio. Huh, that's weird, my clock radio doesn't sound like that. Maybe it's my Mom's. A couple minutes later, I'm thinking "why doesn't she DO something about that", so I get out of bed and realize that's not where the sound is coming from. As I walk into the hallway I see, reflected on the wall, a disturbing orange flicker that can only mean one thing. FIRE! I run around the corner, it looks like it's coming from the street end of our driveway! Oh good, it's not the MR2, Oh no, it must be my Dad's car! Is it too late to save it? Is it too late to get my MR2 out of there before the fire spreads to it?
I get to the window and have a closer look just as there's a loud boom and white flaming chunks go all over the place! Flames are shooting way up, into a tree (higher than the Showdown car fire)... Wait a minute... My dad's car isn't parked behind my MR2 for once, it's over here on the side of it... The burning car is in the street in front of our house! Whew, at least it's not one of ours, and it's far enough away that our cars aren't in immediate danger. When we figure that out, it's time to call 911 since there's nothing else we need to do to try to protect our cars. As 911 picks up, a fire engine races around the corner. Uh, nevermind dispatching for the emergency call, you're already here. :)
The flames were put out in a few minutes. Seemed to be contained to the passenger compartment only. The firefighters tried to get the hood open (even resorting to battering it with axes), but the hood defeated their attempts. Then they realized that the fire didn't affect that part, so they quit trying to carve up the hood. After the fire was put out, the fireman chopped open the trunk and the stuck horn finally quit. Guess the battery must be in the trunk. Then they went door to door to try and find the owner. Neighbors figured it was one of my cars and sent them over here. Since it wasn't ours, it's kind of a mystery as to who's car it is (was)... Finally got a good look at it once the police and tow vehicle showed up and were towing it away (since no owner could be found they took it, guess you're not allowed to leave burnt out hulks in public roadways until owners find them). Looked to be a fairly new Neon. Parts not directly impacted by the fire still appeared to be in very good shape. Very strange. All they'd say is that it's "suspicious". I'll stick with "very strange". Car was parked very neatly by the curb, no leaves there, pointing the opposite way from where you'd expect a stolen car to be dumped and torched. However, nobody around here seems to own it. I've never seen it here before, and if it belonged to someone around the corner, well, it should have been parked there. The streets were empty of other cars since the city JUST took down the "no parking for leaf removal" signs earlier that day. If anyone knows, please clue me in further on what happened!