Single occupant exited vehicle safely before flames became more involved

ROCHELLE — No injuries resulted from a car fire on East Flagg Road on Monday afternoon, Rochelle Fire Department Lt. Jeremy Good said.

A single occupant of a GMC Acadia was driving west on Flagg Road at 4:03 p.m. Monday when he noticed smoke coming from his dash and a passerby called 911 reporting flames coming from the underside of the car, Good said. The driver pulled into the Flagg Center Church of God at 13741 E. Flagg Road and exited the vehicle safety.

Rochelle Fire arrived at the scene at 4:07 p.m. and extinguished the fire “fairly quickly” using foam and about 300 gallons of water. Fire crews arrived to see the engine compartment of the vehicle “completely involved” with flames. The fire was contained to the engine compartment of the vehicle and did not reach the occupant area. Rochelle Police provided traffic control in the area.

Good called the response a “good, quick stop on the fire” and said vehicle fires can have dangerous complications.

“You always have to be careful about fire getting into the fuel source and causing a spontaneous explosion,” Good said. “Shock absorbers in the front and rear of the car can also explode and shoot the bumpers at you. So you have to stay far away and attack the fire from the sides.”

Good noted that the fire’s cause appeared to be electrical in nature. He guessed that the vehicle was a total loss due to the fire damage to the engine compartment.