Car fire closes Salem Church Road
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on July 8, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Firefighters with the Belfast Fire Department work to extinguish a car on fire on Salem Church Road late Thursday morning. The driver of the car, Jerrie Barbato, said she noticed her car was on fire when she looked into the rear view mirror.
A woman's car caught on fire while she was driving and shut down traffic going both ways on Salem Church Road for roughly 45 minutes late Thursday morning.
Jerrie Barbato was driving her 1999 Buick Century when she noticed it was on fire.
"My service engine light was on and I was going to take it to the shop," Ms. Barbato said. "I had been to the doctor and it was cutting up when I was driving there. I went home to get my wallet, and was going to the pharmacy. There wasn't a lot of power when I was driving it, and it started smelling like when you make sweet tea on the stove."
Ms. Barbatos said she did not notice the fire immediately.
"I saw smoke coming up around my car and looked in my rear view mirror, and I just saw flames. There were flames inside the car and I didn't notice the car was on fire until I saw the flames behind me."
Ms. Barbatos pulled her car off the side of the road just north of the intersection of the 100 block of Salem Hill Lane and the 1,000 block of Salem Church Road.
Ms. Barbatos said she is 30 weeks pregnant, and was not injured during the incident.
"It just scared me to death," she said.
Belfast Fire Department Engine 2 responded to the scene around 11:40 a.m. and extinguished the fire, but did not know what caused the vehicle to go up in flames.
The car was a total loss.