Sascha Wil­son

A taxi caught fire near a gas sta­tion in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day send­ing peo­ple scam­per­ing, afraid that the sta­tion might have blown up. How­ev­er, Mon Re­pos Fire Ser­vice re­spond­ed with­in min­utes and was able to put out the flames.

The in­ci­dent took place around 11 am at Pointe-a-Pierre Road, close to Pen­ny­wise. No one was in­jured. Dri­ver Clifton Caton, of Pe­nal, who was com­ing from Mara­bel­la, said: "I had a pas­sen­ger in the car and it just hap­pen. We smell smoke and came out." A re­port stat­ed that the front of the white Nis­san Pul­sa, val­ued $30,000, was on fire. Sev­en­ty per cent of the car was dam­aged. Wit­ness Di­ane Mitchell said she was in a taxi com­ing in­to San Fer­nan­do.

She added: "There was a lot of traf­fic. When we got clos­er we saw a car on fire. It was blaz­ing up. Some cars were turn­ing around. I jump out of the car and be­gan to run. Oth­er peo­ple were run­ning be­cause the fire was so close to the sta­tion." She said some of the stores had to be closed be­cause of the smoke. In­ves­ti­ga­tions are con­tin­u­ing.