Copyright 2006 The News and Observer
By SARAH OVASKA
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Honda sedan parked on the second deck of a downtown parking garage burst into flames Tuesday, destroying another car and damaging a truck.
One firefighter was injured in connection with the blaze.
The Honda Accord caught fire at 4:37 p.m. in the Wake County public parking garage, on Salisbury Street across from the Wake County courthouse, said Rusty Styons, division chief for the Raleigh Fire Department. The Honda was parked on the southern end of the deck, midway between McDowell and Salisbury streets.
Ten-foot flames leapt from the Honda as firefighters used a hose running from a hydrant on the street up to the second-floor deck to fight the blaze.
By the time the fire was put out 10 minutes later, only a charred skeleton of the car remained.
A Saturn sedan parked next to the Honda also was destroyed, and a Ford F-150 truck on the Honda’s other side had extensive heat damage, Styons said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but arson is not suspected, he said.
The injured firefighter, J.D. Rauer, hit his head on a concrete support beam inside the garage while riding on the back of a fire department apparatus. Rauer’s injuries required staples, but he was expected to be released from WakeMed Raleigh Campus on Tuesday night, Styons said.
Downtown workers who spilled out from nearby offices at the close of the business day gathered in groups to watch the fire. Many couldn’t get to their own cars inside the deck while the fire was burning.
“Seeing that commotion makes me glad we live in the Wake Forest,” said Michael Timbline, 18, who was making a rare visit to downtown Raleigh to accompany his sister for an appointment.
A firefighter works at the scene of a car fire in a public parking deck on Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh. A Honda Accord parked at the south end of the second level burst into flames, destroying another car and damaging a truck.