HOLT, Fla., Nov. 10, 2023—A car fire in the Dollar General parking lot around 8:20 p.m. was one of four calls Holt Fire District responded to yesterday.

Passengers of a Hyundai Sonata with Alabama tags had stopped at the store to quench their thirsts.

The driver and passengers, one man, two women and a young boy, were sitting in the car when they noticed smoke drifting out from under the hood.

At first thinking it was the radiator overheating, everyone bailed out when flames appeared, according to one of the car occupants.

No one was injured, but the car owner seemed to be shocked at the sight of her engine on fire.

Holt Fire Lt. Howard Peak was driving past the store on Hwy 90 when he saw flames coming from the car. He raced to the fire station and was pulling on his bunker gear when the 911 call was issued.

First on the scene with Engine 32, he immediately began dousing the flames. A second Holt engine and three other firefighters arrived to assist.

They kept the fire from spreading from the engine, but the heat shattered the windshield and melted parts of the dash and front seat.

Dollar General evacuated employees and closed the store early due to the fire just outside the doors. There was no damage to the store and it reopened at its normal time today.

The DG car fire was the second vehicle fire of the day.

Earlier, around 5 p.m., Holt Fire responded to a car fire, also on Hwy 90. This one occurred just west of Broderick Road on the south side of the highway.

Both lanes of Hwy 90 were closed while firefighters quickly extinguished the flames and prevented flames or sparks from igniting the dry tree line and grass. Unfortunately, the Honda was totaled.

No one was hurt in either incident.

In between the two vehicle fires, Holt Fire responded to a call around 6:10 p.m. for a brush fire located at property south of Susan’s Restaurant. That turned out to be a small campfire that had to be extinguished due to the county-wide burn ban.

Finally, an early morning mutual aid fire service call in Baker kicked off the morning around 7:30 a.m. as firefighters assisted someone who had fallen in their home.