Fire engulfs Comox gas station after car hits fuel pump
CTV
Several people were forced flee their homes after a Comox gas station burst into flames Saturday evening.
Several people were forced flee their homes after a Comox gas station burst into flames Saturday evening.
The blazed started around 7 p.m., when a car drove into a gas pump at the Esso on Anderton Road and caught on fire, witnesses tell CTV News.
The flames spread from the car to the pump, nearby propane tanks and then the gas station itself, destroying the building. There were multiple explosions, and a plume of smoke could be seen throughout the Comox Valley.
Apartment buildings near the gas station were evacuated due to the risk of further explosions and the thick smoke pouring out of the Esso, also home to the Garlic & Pepper Eatery.
“When I came out of my house to look, I see this great big fire. Heard a loud bang and then saw the smoke,” James Cunningham, one of the evacuees, told CTV News.
“You could see the flames, smoke, (in) one of them you could hear an explosion—of course not a big one, and all the sirens of course,” said Peter Bovin, another witness, who took videos of the scene.
Fire crews from Comox, Courtenay and Cumberland all battled the blaze.
