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Witnesses describe fire at Boca gas station

Posted at 7:38 PM, Apr 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-25 19:44:34-04

People in Boca Raton used cell phones to capture the scary moments after a car crashed into a gas pump, sparking a big fire while the driver was still in the front seat.

Amazingly, no one was hurt.

“Within five seconds, like instantly, it was really, really hot,” explained Alonso Williams.

He works at Fixit on North Federal Highway, near 20th Street. He was standing outside the store Saturday afternoon.

He said a driver lost control of his car and slammed into a gas pump across the street.

“The heatwave that came from that boom, you would've been surprised the heat came across the street and it really was intense,” Williams remembered.

Even worse, Williams said he could see the driver still sitting in the front seat. That’s when he said he started shouting.

“I’m literally yelling over there like, ‘Hey get out the car, get out the car, it's an active gas station,’” he said.

The driver got out safely.

The damage from the fire forced the gas station had to close Monday. One gas pump was burned to a crisp. Melted lights look like icicles clinging to the ceiling.

A big crowd watching this fire caught Larry Mackey's attention. He walked outside of the Sprint store at the Fifth Avenue Shops to check out the situation.

He knows it could have been a lot worse.

“Thank God nobody was hurt,” Mackey said. “It was a pretty bad fire. If someone was in there, they most definitely wouldn't have survived.”

He called it a miracle no one was hurt.