At least people refrained from blaming Tesla this time.
In November, a fire affected a Supercharger at a Wawa store in New Jersey. Some websites immediately blamed Tesla for it only to be corrected by others. They did not stand corrected, and you can still read that the Supercharger caused the fire. That is what led to this tweet from Earl of FrunkPuppy about a second case, registered on December 9 in Seaside, Oregon:
This case happened at the Seaside Outlet Mall, also close to a Supercharger. At least this time, no one accused Tesla of causing it. Ricky Criss decided to do donuts at the parking lot and went too far with that, making his old Ford Mustang engine catch fire.
Gallery: Fire At The Seaside Outlet Mall Tesla Supercharger Was Caused By ICE Car
Although the Supercharger station had nothing to do with that, it was also affected by the fire. One indication of how Criss was is that he almost turned into crisp by trying to retrieve personal objects from his car.
A police officer managed to take him out of the car and had to detain him so that he would not get back to it. That ultimately saved his life.
After being investigated for driving under the influence of intoxicants, his blood tests showed he had an alcohol content of 0.18 percent. In Oregon, the legal limit is 0.08 percent, less than half of what Criss presented.
Needless to say, he is now arrested both for DUI and reckless driving. Criss will certainly also be held responsible for paying for the repairs needed by the Supercharger station. If he will be able to pay or not is another question.
Although this seems like a solved case, the Seaside Police Department is asking anyone with information about the whole imbroglio to testify. Perhaps they can tell where Criss was before deciding to burn cookies in a parking lot to the point that his car caught fire.
This case also shows information about fires is almost as sensitive as the fire itself. If you are not careful enough with it, you may get burned.
Sources: Fox 12 Oregon and Seaside Police Department