Surfer Van

Driving home from the beach, we stopped at a stop light. A VW van pulled up behind us with a young (20ish) surfer girl behind the wheel. I was telling Mark how nice it was to see the casual surfer still in existence in a van driving home from the beach, when a guy on a motorcycle pulled up next to the van and told the girl, "I don't want to scare you, but your car's on fire."

She jumped out of her van. I turned the car around the corner. We pulled over. Mark ran to the intersection to see if she was okay and then to direct traffic. I pulled out my phone and realized by the time I reached a local dispatcher on my (415) area code phone, the car could explode.

Instead, I started to run towards the intersection. Why? Because the Fire Station was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!!

A guy on a scooter had already driven up the grass to the front of the station. Fire fighters ran across the street, pulling on their gear.

Two lessons for me.
One: If I'm going to have a car fire, do it across the street from a fire station.
Two: Time to get a local phone number.

(In the photo, the van is around the corner to the left and the fire station is on the right.)