A 26-year-old man is in hospital with serious injuries including a stab wound, after a vehicle fire in west London.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in a parking lot at Riverside Dr. and Wonderland Rd. around 8:15am Friday.
"As soon as they turned the corner onto Wonderland they saw thick black smoke," said Al Braatz, district chief with the London Fire Department. "When they arrived on scene the vehicle was fully involved from front to back, flames coming out of all the windows and the door was open. There was a person who was helped away by some civilians, who was approximately 50ft from the vehicle."
Braatz said the gas tank of the Dodge minivan ruptured, adding to the danger.
"What our crew did was dyke the area," he said. "They contained it with water but, because of the flammable liquid, it would flare up and so they used dry chemical extinguishers to finally extinguish the fire."
The 26-year-old man who escaped from the burning vehicle with the help of a couple of motorists was taken to hospital with burn injuries. Police later confirmed that the man had also suffered a stab wound, but have not elaborated on how he suffered this injury.
The man remained in hospital Friday night in critical but stable condition.
Following the fire, police cordoned off the parking lot with investigators, taking photos of the burned out vehicle and searching the area around it.
Police said there is no reason to believe there is any risk to public safety, but Constable Sandasha Bough could not confirm whether the incident is suspicious in nature.
"At this time we are unsure. Our major crimes unit is here investigating but we are in the early stages of the investigation," said Bough.
As far as the individuals who stopped to help the man escape the fire, Braatz is commending them for their bravery.
"Not being firefighters, but ordinary civilians, they are not use to seeing something so horrific and dramatic as a vehicle fully involved with someone inside," said Braatz. "The person who was inside is extremely fortunate that those people helped him and took that risk because with the level of involvement of the flames when our engine company got here it definitely would have been life threatening."
