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Last night, we told you about that scare at the Shell One-Stop gas station in Belize City. A pickup truck spontaneously burst into flames a few feet from one of the fuel pumps.  Had that pump combusted, it would have been catastrophic.

Fortunately, quick thinking gas station's employees deployed a water hose and got the blaze under control. The Fire Department arrived shortly afterwards, and they took over, ensuring that the fire was put out completely.

But for a while there - it was very scary - an open fire in a gas station.  

For a first hand account, we spoke this evening with the owner of the vehicle, 37 year-old Wenseslao Veliz. 

Speaking in an off-camera interview and in Spanish, he explained how everyone scattered in panic when the two door Ranger burst into flames:...

Voice of - Wenseslao Veliz - Vehicle Owner
"I reach to the gas station. I cut off the engine. I told the gas attendant that I wanted 20 dollars' worth of gasoline, so he put it in, and I told him okay, thanks. I know him. And then, I started the engine, and after that, I saw smoke coming from under the hood. So I told my wife, take out my son and my daughter from the vehicle, and walk away. After that I open the hood to see where smoke was coming from. When I opened it, there was a blaze of fire. The gas attendant couldn't assist me with those fire extinguishers that the gas station should have. So, the guy got frightened, and both of ran. There were some police officers there, and they ran as well. The truth is I don't know what happened. I just give thanks to the Good Lord that nothing happened to me, my son, my daughter, and my wife."

We also spoke with the investigator from the National Fire Service.  He told us that from their investigation, a faulty battery was the source of the vehicle's spontaneous combustion:

Kenneth Mortis - Sr. Supervisor, Natl' Fire Service
"Yesterday evening the fire department received and responded to a fire call of a vehicle in progress at the Shell gas station in Belize City. On arrival we observed a white 2 door Ford pickup which had heavy smoke and fire damage coming from under the hood, primarily concentrated on the front wheel of the passenger section of the vehicle. As per normal, we got into operation extinguishing this fire after which we made an attempt to launch an investigation to the cause of this fire. From our investigation, we learnt that the vehicle had a supposedly battery fault - whereby the positive had grown itself out, which in turn contributed to the cause of the fire."

Reporter
"Can you speak to the potential danger and risks that were involved in this particular operation?"

Kenneth Mortis
"Yeah, woof - the potential danger could have been a catastrophic one indeed. Fortunately, we along with the attendance, I'm not going to take all the credit for that, the attendance were very helpful in being part of the first responders. So when we got there, it was just to do the basic mop up and complete extinguishment of the fire. In the event that the worst case scenario should have played itself out, it would have been a catastrophe whereby no doubt civilians would have lost lives in the event. Probably, we would have still been out there picking up the pieces up this day. The fuel station is situated in a manner whereby the tanks are now stored undergrown. What I like about the new system is that there's a shut off switch right at the valve of each of the dispensers. It allows a few minutes before excessive heat could have caused damage to those pump dispensers. But like you said, in the event it was a worst case scenario, we would have still been out there picking up the pieces."

Mortis also expressed concern that civilians attempted to get close to the burning vehicle to take pictures and videos to post on Facebook. He said that these people put themselves in grave danger when they did that, and he is hoping that prudent decision making will ensure that bystanders stay away, should a situation like this ever occur again.