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Hybrid car catches fire in Roberts Market parking lot

by Dave Boyce

The front left side of an expensive hybrid sedan known as the Fisker Karma burst into flames while sitting unoccupied in the parking lot of Roberts Market at the corner of Woodside and Canada roads at about 5:50 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, firefighters from the Woodside Fire Protection District said.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire with water and there were no injuries, but the heat did blister paint on an adjacent SUV, Fire Chief Dan Ghiorso told the Almanac. A fire in a hybrid vehicle can involve electricity and liquid fuel, substances normally extinguished with foam, but this fire endangered neither the battery pack nor the fuel tank, Chief Ghiorso said.

The 2012 Karma, a dramatic looking vehicle from Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive, went into production in December 2011 and costs between $103,000 and $116,000, Fisker spokesman Russel Datz told the Almanac in an email.

The driver told firefighters that he noticed "steam or smoke" before parking the vehicle and had called the manufacturer, who advised him to call 911 upon seeing the flames, Chief Ghiorso said.