UPDATED: ‘It was pretty intense and pretty scary’: dramatic car fire wakes neighbours in Lake Country

Members with the Lake Country fire department extinguished a dramatic early morning vehicle fire in Lake Country that woke neighbours on Sunday.

Fire chief Steve Windsor said the call came in around 4:25 a.m. for a vehicle on fire in the driveway of a residence on Beaver Lake Road, near Main Street and Highway 97.

“Our crews responded and there was a vehicle on fire in the driveway of a home. It was starting to catch the house on fire. As a result, the RCMP attended and dealt with the property owners of the home,” he said on Sunday.

Kyrstin Schultz and her husband, who live four doors down from the scene, woke to the sound of a horn blaring.

The pair went outside to investigate and saw the flames erupt from the vehicle.

“We hear ‘pop, pop, pop,’ and that’s the tires popping, and then two minutes later the fire truck arrives and they go towards the fire and then they run back towards the fire truck and it was a big boom, explosion, black smoke pluming out, so I guess the car exploded,” she said.

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Schultz said she also heard someone in hysterics.

“People before that were screaming, they were just freaking out,” she said.

“It was pretty intense and pretty scary.”

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Windsor said the vehicle was heavily damaged but the residence was unscathed with only a bit of smoke wafting into the home.

“It was a total write-off, it was fully involved when crews arrived on scene,” he said.

The fire department has turned over the scene to police.

“The circumstances surrounding the exact cause of the fire, which is being considered an arson, remain part of the ongoing police investigation,” Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said in a news release.

Police confirmed an intoxicated woman was taken into custody at the scene but later released without charge.

No one was injured in the blaze.