Morden Fire & Rescue crews were called out to a vehicle fire early Thursday morning.
Fire Chief Andy Thiessen tells the story.
"We got the call about 1:30 in the morning. Police noticed the car fire in the compound. We responded, and of course, there were three vehicles involved. Basically, one vehicle will have started spreading to the other two. No other damage to buildings or anything like that. So, that part was good."
While the cause of the fire has not been fully determined, it does appear to be electrical, according to Chief Thiessen.
"Something in one of the vehicles still had electrical charge to it. We know the batteries had been disconnected, because it was a vehicle we had responded to three days earlier, but it must have been electrical capacitor, or something in there that still retained some power, and shorted out in the vehicle, I'm assuming, and spread to the other ones."
He said it can happen to anyone.
"We had it on one of our fire trucks just a week ago, where a wire had shorted out in the frame, and was causing us some grief, so we had to figure that all out. So, it's not just passenger vehicles, it's emergency response vehicles, as well, that we have to keep up, maintaining, and all that kind of thing."
Chief Thiessen reinforced the message added to the Morden Fire & Rescue social media post, urging motorists to pay attention to their vehicle's warning signs.
"Now, in the wintertime, using block heaters, that's a culprit that gets us every year. It could be the cord that goes from the block heater to the extension cord that you're using, or it could be the block heater itself. It's just nice to get those types of things checked before we start using them on a daily basis throughout the winter."
While the block heater wasn't the issue in this particular fire, this is the season fire fighters respond to more vehicle fires and urge motorists not to use frayed or cracked extention cords and to make sure their block heater is in good working order.
Thiessen added, there are certain kinds of cords that don't withstand the freezing temperatures as well as other and can be dangerous as well. The cords with three outlets on one rubber end, with two outlets on one side and one on the other, are often found at the scene of a vehicle fire.
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Video below was submitted by Morden Fire & Rescue of the actual vehicle fire.