Four wheel drive catches fire on entrance to Teewah beach
Trees near the entrance to Teewah Beach caught on fire after a 4WD burst into flames. One man raced to put the car fire out with a fire extinguisher but the flames quickly took hold. Watch the video.
Gympie
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Four wheel drive traffic at the entrance to Teewah Beach was held up at the weekend when a rented vehicle burst into flames.
Real estate agent Michael Byriel and his friends were half way through a picnic lunch as they waited for the ferry when they saw plumes of smoke followed by a loud boom.
Mr Byriel grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran down Beach Rd to the cut in of the main entrance to Teewah Beach, where he saw the Land Rover Discovery engulfed in flames.
“Everyone was OK, but I didn’t get there in time to use my fire extinguisher,” he said.
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The flames quickly took hold, aided by the air being released as the front left tyre exploded.
The occupants of the car were safe and did not look too bothered about it all, Mr Bryiel said.
He said he believed it was a hire car from the resort but didn’t know what started it.
“Whatever it was, the concern was more around the trees catching fire.”
A fire crew arrived quickly and first attended to the burning trees.
“There wasn’t much left of the car after the fire,” he said.
Mr Bryiel, a real estate agent who lives in Redcliffe, was visiting Teewah Beach with five other friends.
While they were having lunch they were watching and rescuing cars getting bogged, tide levels rise, and even watched in disbelief as other cars made attempts at getting around the one in flames.
“It was a bit of a shock, we went to teach Robbie (a friend) to learn how to four wheel drive on sand,” Mr Byriel said.
“She basically saw everything you weren’t meant to do.”
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