LAUDERHILL, Fla. (WSVN) – Lauderhill residents noticed several damaged vehicles in their neighborhood after a vehicle caught fire overnight.
Lauderhill Fire Rescue responded to a car fire in the 6850 block of Landings Drive Monday morning.
Officials said the fire was accidental. One car burst into flames, which spread to other cars and affected some nearby homes.
“Four cars were completely burnt down,” one witness said.
One neighbor, who did not want to be seen on camera, said two cars were destroyed in the fire.
“We were woken up by an explosion and fire outside,” the neighbor said. “Basically, all of our cars were blown up.”
The intense heat caused the door to melt shut, trapping her and her cat inside.
“It just melted shut,” she said. “And then my window, when I tried to jump out the window, my other car exploded at the window, so I couldn’t get out.”
First responders were eventually able to remove her and her cat to safety.
“He’s okay,” she said.
Another resident, Alberta Johnson McBride, witnessed the car fire.
“My neighbor, who lives right in front of where the car was, had her door melted down, so she had to throw her cat off the balcony,” Johnson-McBride said. “I think she left out the back.”
Once the fire subsided, ash and debris covered the driveway.
Ring camera footage from the Cielo Point area showed flames growing to the height of some homes, about two stories high. The intense flames melt the car, the neighbor’s doorbell and calling camera, and even the blinds behind the windows.
Alberta rushed out of the house in the morning to move her car from chasing a fire.
“We had to move the car because we didn’t know. It was scary. It was crazy,” Alberta said. “But it was scary. It was really, really scary.”
Neighbors said they were glad no one was injured.
“I’m just grateful to be alive,” the neighbor said. “Things can be replaced. Someone could die. Something could have happened.”
“It was really crazy,” Alberta said. “It was a huge fire. They came and said we had to get out of the back house, out the balcony in case it exploded, because that’s what it sounded like. But it was crazy. I woke up this morning and the yellow… I was hoping it wasn’t taped.”
7 News cameras captured the aftermath of the fire. Debris could be seen on the ground where the burnt vehicle had been parked before it was towed away.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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