A Sunshine Coast man has had a lucky escape after his vehicle unexpectedly burst into flames on a major road.
Mark Couch was forced to kick out the glass in the driver’s side door of ‘Lexy’, his Toyota HiLux, to escape the blaze on the Sunshine Motorway about 2am on Monday morning.
He had just dropped his mate home to Sippy Downs and was between Dixon Road and Kawana Way, heading to his house in Maroochydore, when the fire started.
“I noticed smoke and a small flame in the front of the car, so I pulled over and it just flamed up into the passenger side of the vehicle,” he said.
“The doors wouldn’t open as all the electric doors were jammed, but I managed to kick out the windows, climbed out and ran about 50m.
“The car went up in no time.”
Mr Couch called triple-0 and police, ambulance and fire officers attended.
“They were there within 5-10 minutes from memory,” he said.
He avoided physical injuries but suffered smoke inhalation and his body was “smoky and charred”.
While his vehicle was insured, Mr Couch – who was on his way home from the Red Hot Summer Series Sprintcars event in Toowoomba – said the fire destroyed all the camping and four-wheel-driving equipment he was carrying.
“I lost all my camping gear, things like solar panels, tools, tyre inflators, and all external accessories like winch, breathers, bulbar and snorkel,” he said.
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“It was about $20k worth, which isn’t covered.
“The vehicle was insured, though at market value, so I’ll lose out there also.”
As for a cause, Mr Couch said there were no clues.
“They say they’ll probably never know due to the extensive damage,” he said.
Posting about the incident on social media, Mr Couch said it was “not the end to a great night I was expecting”.
“How the f— I got out is anyone’s guess as it went up so f—— quickly,” he said.
“I’m so thankful I just dropped my mate home before it happened minutes later. He also came to my aid as he’s an absolute legend.
“The photos are so hard to look at as it shows how f—— lucky I was to get out.”
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