Car catches fire in Alley by Main Street

Last Sunday at approximately 1:30 A.M., Safford police officers were dispatched to the area of Highway 70 and 6th Avenue in reference to a fire. Upon arrival, an officer found a vehicle in the alley fully engulfed in flames. Authorities shut down traffic on Main Street between 5th and 6th Avenues and shut down 5th and 6th Avenues near the entrances to the alley behind the stores on the south side of Main Street.

The reporting party told authorities that he was walking home on 6th Avenue when he noticed smoke coming from the alley on the north side of Main Street near 6th Avenue. The man reportedly ran to the area and found a car on fire in the alley. The man saw a water valve at a neighboring building and began filling a water bucket that he found nearby. The man said that when he approached the burning vehicle and threw water on the fire, the window blew out. At that point the man backed off and waited for the fire department.

Safford Fire Department arrived and put out the fire. The vehicle apparently was a total loss. Police officers met with the owner of the vehicle, which belonged to the owner of a business on Main Street. The woman told authorities that she was shocked to hear that the car had caught fire. She said that the car had been broken down and parked behind her business for the past year and a half and didn’t have any insurance or registration.

The Safford fire chief said that the fie was suspicious but investigators could not determine whether the fire was caused by arson because the area had been flooded by water and disturbed by responders.

A Safford police officer viewed surveillance camera footage of the alley area but did not see anything that might assist in determining the cause of the fire.

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