[Originally published Friday 19 August. Updated with Eric Tabuteau’s quotes. Read about the child who risked his life to get the Tabuteaus out here.]
THE Gippsland Times did not have to look too far for breaking news on a damp Tuesday morning when a grey Mercedes-Benz sedan caught on fire, one door down from the Sale office on Macalister Street.
At approximately 9.05am, after the vehicle’s owner Liz Tabuteau picked-up her husband Eric Tabuteau from a coffee shop, she parked in front of the Sale Health & Fitness gym.
“I stopped the car, (and the fire started) straight away,” Liz said to the Gippsland Times at 9.25am.
“Normally, the car if it’s heated or anything, it shows me. But this time, nothing.
“And this smoke, we thought it was some foggy thing, and we go ‘s**t, what’s that?’
“The bonnet was on fire, and it just exploded.
“I just hopped out and got the dog straight out because she was in there.
“I said ‘get away’, because I imagined that the car might just go ‘boom’… and there were cars in front of me.”
Liz, who gave a statement to police, said the situation was very surprising, as the car was only about five years old.
“No warning (on the heat). Normally it would say to check the tyres if they’re a bit flat. Everything else comes up, it’s wonderful for me,” she said.
“And now, the whole street is blocked off.”
Liz said she didn’t know what the insurance policy was for fires.
“I want to know why (it caught fire). It’s up to Mercedes, not me.”
Eric said he bought the car for Liz for his birthday four years ago.
“It had driven under 50,000 kilometres,” he said.
“I’m not mechanically minded, so I have no idea (how the fire started). But we got everything out, the most precious being the dog.”
Eric thanked the “wonderful people” in Sale who helped them out.
“There was the four blokes with the fire extinguisher, a guy from Southern Rural Water and a boy and girl from Sale College across the road,” he said.
“So that’s something good that’s come out of all of this. And it shows that you never know what is coming around the corner.”
The fire brigade arrived before 9.20am to spray the bonnet and underneath the front of the car, and police blocked off Macalister Street in one direction.
A firefighter told this paper that a fire extinguisher had “done a number” on the fire before they arrived, reducing the potential exposure risk.
“It was close to the buildings and the power lines too, so it could have been way worse,” they said.
Another firefighter said they don’t usually attend to cars that just suddenly catch fire.
“It’s not the advertisement that Mercedes were looking for, but it’s the one they got,” they said.
By about 10am, the car had been towed away and traffic was allowed back in Macalister Street.
Mercedes-Benz Cars Australia was contacted for comment, but did not address questions about this specific incident, saying “at this stage we have not been contacted by the customer to help us understand the situation”.
The bonnet after being sprayed out.
The bonnet after being sprayed out. Photo: Stefan Bradley.
Car gets towed. Photo: Stefan Bradley.
The car was towed within an hour of the incident.
Bonnet is sprayed out. Photo: Stefan Bradley.
The car was sprayed out underneath as well. Emergency services blocked off one side of Macalister Street. Photo: Stefan Bradley.
Mercedes Sedan after the explosion (licence plate edited out). Photo: Stefan Bradley.
