Golden Valley Firefighters check for hot-spots after extinguishing a runaway car fire on Thursday afternoon at 3:52 pm. The driver, Charles Wallace from Phoenix was driving eastbound on Hwy-68 when he smelled smoke and noticed his van was on fire. When the driver attempted to stop at the U-Haul facility on Kirkland Road off of Hwy-68, he realized his brakes failed as well. The driver went thru the open gate at the U-Haul storage lot and came to a stop when his van was impaled by the hitch of a pleasure boat stored on site. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, saving the boat and U-Haul truck parked alongside the van that was on fire. The fire appears to have begun from a ruptured transmission line, possibly igniting the fluid that spilled onto hot exhaust pipes. The 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager van is considered a total loss.
