Hate to see this story. If Charles Vanlandingham is on CC- my heart's out to you- but hopefully you can be a lesson to builders from all over! Sounds like having an ABC extinguisher nearby might have helped. If the engine was "sparking"- not much a hose could do for you.
Oh... and a Great Dane named "Charmin?"
From the Arkansas Leader:
Car engine sparks garage fire
Jacksonville firefighters responded to 66 Stonewall Drive Tuesday afternoon where they found a garage engulfed in flames after a fire started in a car engine.
Homeowner Charles Vanlandingham was in the garage at about 3 p.m. building a kit car, a Factory Five Mark II Roadster replica of an AC Cobra. He said it was the first time he'd started the engine and when he shut it off, it began sparking, then turned into a full-blown fire. "I tried to get a garden hose to knock it down," he said.
That was unsuccessful, so he tried to push the vehicle out of the garage. The fire from the engine was so hot that it burned the garage door opener and the door came back down on the car.
"I reached up to push the button to open the door, but the controls were melted," he said. Vanlandingham said he then went back into his home through the carport door, shutting it behind him.
He grabbed his Great Dane, Charmin, and went outside, where he pulled his company van out of the driveway. Vanlandingham is an employee of Siemens Medical Solutions. His neighbor, Staff Sgt. Shelby Vernon, had already called 911. "I could see smoke coming out from under the garage door and I called 911," he said.
"It burned the garage door completely up." Firefighters had the fire extinguished by 3:30 p.m. Vanlandingham said he will stay with friends and family until he can get back into his home. Fire Marshal Charlie Pope said the fire was confined to the garage and attic above the carport. "He had the door closed from the carport to the house and that kept the fire out of the rest of the house," Pope said.
No damage estimate was available Tuesday.
http://www.arkansasleader.com/4-07-04/fire.html
-JT