WEST JORDAN — A woman suffered only minor injuries Wednesday after escaping from a burning car.
A gray Mazda was eastbound on 7800 South near 4000 West about 5:50 a.m. when a white Ford Excursion in the left-hand turn lane turned south in front of the Mazda, West Jordan Police Lt. Dean Waters said. The vehicles collided in the intersection.
The impact sent the Mazda across a grass strip and into a Maverik gas station. The car hit a sign, a tree and then a gas pump.
“When the vehicle hit the gas pump, the gas pump caught fire (and) flames ensued,” Waters said. “The vehicle caught on fire.”
It happened so quickly that the Mazda driver didn’t have much time to think.
“She couldn’t get out through her door,” said Claudia Pastor, the driver's sister. “She had to climb and get out through the second door, and the pressure from the air bag came to her face.”
Pastor said her sister was nervous, in shock and had pain on the side of her face. She was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
The driver of the Excursion was not injured.
“These kinds of calls make us very nervous, of course, because you worry about explosions. You worry about evacuations,” Waters said. “There’s a lot going on all at once.”
He said a quick-thinking Maverik employee kept a scary situation from becoming much worse.
“We have to give kudos to the Maverik employee,” he said. “She immediately shut down the gas pumps, which helps us out tremendously. It lessens risk of continued fire.”
Fire crews arrived and quickly doused the flames.
Email: rjeppesen@deseretnews.com