A Florida man has a fellow driver to thank for his narrow escape from his burning Pontiac, according to The St. Petersburg Times. Luis Perez, owner of the 1996 Firebird, was driving down the road in Clearwater, Florida around 2 p.m. when his car caught on fire. Another driver alerted Perez of the fire, causing him to pull the car over and jump out before the car became engulfed. This came just after workers at an quick lube shop told Perez that his car seemed fine.
Perez’s car had been acting up since storms rolled through the area earlier in the week. The check engine light kept coming on and the car was making weird sounds, “kind of like a lawn mower.” This prompted Perez to stop by a local oil-change shop to have it looked at. Workers at the store told Perez that they couldn’t find anything wrong with the Firebird but it should be rechecked at a later time. Minutes later, his car went up in flames while he was driving down U.S. 19.
Perez escaped unharmed from the vehicle. The Firebird, along with photos of Perez’s kids and his professional portfolio, didn’t fare as well. The cause of the fire has not been determined.