Vehicle doused with foam after catching on fire in Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) — The inside of an SUV was coated with firefighting foam Friday morning after a fire broke out in the vehicle along I-81 in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Emergency Services says NRV 911 alerted the Christiansburg Volunteer Fire Department and Christiansburg Rescue about a vehicle fire on I-81 South on Friday, July 30.

When the first units arrived at the scene, they found a small SUV with smoke and flames in the passenger’s compartment.

Firefighters went to work extinguishing the vehicle, but since the gas tank of the vehicle — which had so many items inside it — had ruptured, personnel used firefighting foam to blanket the vehicle’s interior, preventing oxygen from reaching the fire.

According to emergency officials, several civilians tried to put out the flames using fire extinguishers before the crews arrived.

“If you have to use a fire extinguisher, remember the PASS acronym: Point, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep,” Montgomery County Emergency Services wrote on Facebook.