Ross Calderwood was fishing at Dougan Lake at about noon on Oct. 29 when he heard a loud bang like a tire blowing, but he didn’t hear any screaming tires, so didn’t think much of it until he heard the sirens coming and saw black smoke rising on the nearby Trans Canada Highway.
Calderwood ran up to the highway and saw a car fully engulfed in flames on the side of the road beside Dougan Lake.
“I checked to see there was no one in the car and then got my camera and took this picture,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe how fast the car was totally engulfed and reduced to rubble in about 10 minutes. The fire trucks were there in about five minutes and put the fire out. The lady driving the car appeared to be unhurt and was in a car that arrived on scene.”
Chief Charles Brown from the Cowichan Bay Fire Department confirmed that a white Toyota Camry traveling south on the Trans Canada Highway near Dougan Lake on Sunday afternoon was completely engulfed in flames and destroyed.
Brown said the woman driving the car, who was unhurt, reported that the car lost power and caught fire before she exited the vehicle.
The southbound lane was blocked for a short time after the incident.