Israel Schwanck was at home getting ready to go watch a friend graduate as part of a new recruit class of the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service early Thursday afternoon when he had a fire emergency of his own.
A neighbor told him his van parked outside was billowing smoke.
“I came back outside, and I just saw the smoke,” said Schwanck, who lives on the 5000 block of Elm Street in downtown Bethesda. “But then I opened the hood and flames started shooting out.”
He called 911, and county firefighters arrived, putting out the flames within minutes, he said. They thought the cause was likely electrical.
The fire gutted the engine and much of the front of the white Ford E-250 van, which Schwanck used for his work as a carpenter. He said he had owned the van for only three weeks. When the van was towed away Thursday afternoon, it left a pile of ash and debris in its wake in the parking spot on Elm Street.
An adjacent Honda Prelude was also burned—plastic on its mirror and bumper started to melt in the heat and it was splattered with ash—but none of the nearby townhouses sustained damage and there were no injuries.
Schwanck said his friend was understanding about why he’d missed the graduation ceremony after Schwanck sent him the photos of the flames.
“I told him, ‘You see this? You should be out here!’” Schwanck said.
@BethesdaBeat @fox5dc Van burning at noon today on Elm Street in Bethesda. No one was hurt. Owner doesn't know how it happened. pic.twitter.com/OopRrtNI69
— Jack (@BarkerJack74) June 1, 2017
Video of the fire on Elm Street today, provided by Israel Schwanck pic.twitter.com/UjNc3JKFMo
— Joe Zimmermann (@joemaczim) June 1, 2017
The fire tore through the van's engine and its interior. Credit: Joe Zimmermann