Firefighters doused a car fire on Sunday afternoon.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Firefighters made short work of a car fire on Sunday afternoon but the vehicle was a total loss.
Chris Bonnivier of Adams said he was driving down Curran Highway when his 1999 Volvo sedan began smoking from the engine compartment just before 3 p.m.
He pulled into the parking lot of the former North Adams Plaza and got out of the car before the engine burst into flame. The dark smoke billowing out the parking lot could be seen from Hodges Cross Road.
"I really liked that car," said Bonnivier, who added the sedan had some 200,000 miles on it. "I've never had anything like that happen to me before."
The interior of the car was totally gutted, some of the tire popped and the windows blew out. Fire Lt. John Paciorek said it would be difficult to impossible to determine what caused the fire. "Everything in there is incinerated."
Surprisingly, Bonnivier was able to recover one of the three briefcases he had in the car. One in the back seat survived but was dripping as he pulled it out. "You guys overdid the water," he joked.
No one was injured and remains of the car were removed.
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Firefighters doused a car fire on Sunday afternoon.