A white Range Rover burst into flames Wednesday morning at a busy San Francisco intersection, sending a thick plume of black smoke onto the Central Freeway overpass above.
The fire engulfed the SUV just before 9 a.m. at the five-way intersection of Potrero Avenue, Division Street, and 10th Street on the border of the South of Market and Design District neighborhoods. Explosions could be heard as flames rapidly consumed the Ranger Rover. While the San Francisco Fire Department quickly closed off the intersection, traffic in both directions of the freeway was unaffected.
The driver was unharmed; paramedics took him away in an ambulance as a precaution. Apart from saying that the car caught fire while he was driving, he declined to comment or state his name.
Lt. Mariano Elias of the Fire Department said it was not known how the fire started, but investigators were called to the scene.
An officer with the San Francisco Police Department confirmed that the car exploded from the interior. Even after the flames were extinguished at precisely 9 a.m., the SUV’s rear directional indicator continued to blink.
