Fake Ferrari erupts into flames; blaze destroys waterfront home near Lions Bay
VANCOUVER BC-- A wannabe Ferrari that erupted into flames could easily have caused the downfall of a waterfront community near Lions Bay Friday, say fire officials.
Late Friday, Lions Bay Fire Chief Andrew Oliver got a call that a Ferrari had caught fire in a residential garage in Strachan Point, an unincorporated community about 30 kilometres north of Vancouver. But when firefighters got to the home, not only did they fail to find a supercar, they couldn’t find enough water to stop the blaze from spreading.
“The guy said it was a Ferrari, but it was a kit car,” said Oliver. “A poor man’s Ferrari ... he didn’t even have the big engine in it either.”
The dressed-up, two-door, four-cylinder Pontiac Fiero had seemingly gone up while its battery was being charged, Oliver said. The flames then spread to an (ostensibly authentic) Audi TT parked next to it and developed into a fully-involved fire within minutes of the call coming in.
The cost of the firefighting service — estimated to be in the tens of thousands — will be the responsibility of the owner of the home where the Faux-rrari was parked and possibly other residents.
The three bedroom, three bathroom home was on the market for an asking price of $1,850,000.
The cost of the firefighting service — estimated to be in the tens of thousands — will be the responsibility of the owner of the home where the Faux-rrari was parked and possibly other residents.
The Fire Departments in Canada charge to put out a fire? I honestly did not know that..... That sux, you loose everything, and on top of it have a bill of "tens of thousands" on top of it!
That's too bad, but why does the author have to keep bashing the kit car? I probably wouldn't be far off stating it was probably a nicer car than the authors.
The cost of the firefighting service — estimated to be in the tens of thousands — will be the responsibility of the owner of the home where the Faux-rrari was parked and possibly other residents.
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Poor Fiero!
But what about that, they and their neighbors owe for the fire bill?
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 01-21-2014).]
That's too bad, but why does the author have to keep bashing the kit car? I probably wouldn't be far off stating it was probably a nicer car than the authors.
Bob
Yeah, that was odd - he even mentioned the engine...
That's too bad, but why does the author have to keep bashing the kit car? I probably wouldn't be far off stating it was probably a nicer car than the authors.
Bob
Its almost like the car was the real story, not the fire.
Originally posted by RCR: Yeah, the guys house burns down and he gets ragged on for having a replica.
Bob
Maybe it wasn't a replica and they were just confused. The article doesn't state what model Ferrari the caller thought it was. For all we know, it could have been a Mera.
Granted the Mera looks like a 308, but they were sold as Meras, not Ferrari replicas.
...harsh words. It's less about the fire & more jabs at the guys car.
quote
Originally posted by RCR:
Yeah, the guys house burns down and he gets ragged on for having a replica.
Geez guys, lighten up!
The writer of the story saw an opportunity to inject a little humour into a news event about a house fire. No lives were lost, and the home owner probably has fire insurance.
I've got multiple Fieros, and I wasn't offended by the story. I was surprised and actually pleased to see that the reporter knew something about our little plastic cars.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 01-21-2014).]
we get bills for fire fighting in Kincardine too .those bills then get paid by your insurance company .makes you wonder what our taxes pay for .too bad about this guys car .i wonder if he had his charger on "boost " ?
The writer of the story saw an opportunity to inject a little humour into a news event about a house fire. No lives were lost, and the home owner probably has fire insurance.
I've got multiple Fieros, and I wasn't offened by the story. I was surprised and actually pleased to see that the reporter knew something about our little plastic cars.
I dunno. If I lost my car in a fire, the last thing I would want to see in the paper is how the neighbors car that was lost was actually a car to be worried about losing, & mine was well... as we he put in the article. I didn't find any humor in it.
So the Pacific Ocean is an 'inadequate water supply' for fire-fighting purposes? The water looks closer to the house than the fire hydrant in front of my house is to mine! Throw the intake hose into the bay & see if you can pump it dry! Lol!
I'd be expecting flooding problems, not fire suppression issues... Pricy neighbourhood eh?
NHTSA also opened a new preliminary evaluation into unconfirmed reports of power-steering loss in GM's 1987 A-body cars with 4-cylinder engines. The A-body cars are the Buick Century, Chevrolet Celebrity, Oldsmobile Ciera and Pontiac 6000. NHTSA said it had received nine complaints, including one accident with an injury, of fluid leaking from the power-steering pressure hose, which resulted in a sudden loss of steering assistance. That investigation involves 527,459 cars, NHTSA said. Nine other preliminary evaluations were opened by the agency into: -Erratic cruise control in about 10,000 1987 Chrysler Jeep Cherokees. -Windshield wiper failure in 300,000 1988-model GM Corsica and Beretta vehicles. -Erratic cruise control in 1988 GM Suburban and Jimmy vehicles with 5.7 liter or 7.4 liter engines. -Excessive windshield fogging in 115,000 1986 Hyundai Excel GL vehicles. -Gasoline splashing from the filler pipe due to alleged faulty venting in 180,000 1988 Ford Town Cars. -Rear-brake jamming due to a faulty retaining ring in 900,000 1986-1987 GM Buick LeSabre, Oldsmobile 88 and Pontiac Bonneville. -Jamming of the steering mechanism in 800,000 1985 and 1986 GM G-body cars. The models using the now discontinued G-body were the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and El Camino, Pontiac Grand Prix and Bonneville, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Brougham, and Buick Regal. -Rear-axle seal failure in 576,000 1985 through 1988 GM Astro and Safari vehicles. NHTSA also raised two preliminary evaluations to the engineering analysis level. They involved jamming of the front-seat lap belt in 394,500 1987-1988 Toyota Camry vehicles, and windshield-wiper failure in 465,500 1986 through 1988 Ford Aerostar Minivans. The agency closed three investigations, finding there was ''no defect trend.'' The investigations were into complaints of: -Tail-light wiring fires in 1987-1988 Chrysler Omnis. -Air-brake emergency valve defects in the Navistar 1988 S-series school bus. -Engine surge in 1983-1986 Ford cars with 3.8-liter and 5-liter fuel- injected engines.
What?? What kind of firefighters you have there? They attend the emergency because the caller said it was a Ferrari On Fire so if the caller have said it was a Fiero by this time there were no town
Battery chargers (except peak type) usually have a warning not to leave on charge unattended. This guys REAL Audi could have done the same thing if hed charged it. Wonder if the storyline would have changed then...."Expensive Audi sports car with lame 2.0 engine, catches fire and destroys owners hand built pride & joy custom automobile, and his home despite Keystone firemens inept attempts to put out the fire."
we have a saying around here : our firefighters havent lost a foundation yet ! it doesnt take long for a wooden house to burn down , unfortunately most houses in canada are made of wood .
You guys can't get over the fake Ferrari thing, can you? That wasn't the story, it was just a bit of humour.
The fire departments don't normally charge for service, but when a small unincorporated community calls out neghbouring towns fire departments and the area hasn't seen fit to upgrade their water supply to reasonable levels, they can charge them. They did use sea water and they also had to get a fire boat out from a considerable distance. The charges are warranted, IMHO. They pay no municipal taxes there so emergency services are pay as you go!
They should have joined an adjoining village or municipality years ago except that they would have been required to upgrade their infrastructure (no other political unit would take them on and pay for thier upgrade). The owners were too cheap to pay for the upgrade, so took their chances on a pay as you go basis.
And if you think the asking price for the home was high, remember that it was water front - the same lot in an adjoining incorporated area would go for up to double that.
sigh... it just had to be a Fiero. As if I don't already get annoyed by the number of people who think my car is about to explode. Now they'll feel validated. When I bought the car there was a carefully mounted fire extinguisher under the hood. It also had decades of leaves in the heater ducts, but hey it was prepared. When I got the local police to sign a fix-it ticket, the cop asked about fires. People at gas stations ask about it. There's two kinds of people in the world: those who used to own a Fiero, and those who heard they catch fire. I guess the DMC guys have it worse with all the flex capacitor jokes.
There's no humor in someones house burning down. What's next
"Today paramedics responded to a caller who claimed that a rare Shelby Cobra went through a guard rail. Despite exhaustive searches no Cobra was found. The search was delayed however while road crews cleared away a mangled repli-car and corpse from the vicinity. On the same highway a classic Corvette was stuck in traffic but seems to have escaped unharmed."
