A van burst into flames near Liberty STEM Elementary while parents were picking up their children from school.
Police say the call came in at 3:11 pm on Wednesday afternoon, and that it took only minutes for the situation to escalate.
Sapulpa Times spoke with one of the occupants, who told us it was her sister’s van, but they had been sitting, waiting on school to be let out so they could pick up their daughter. The van was in a parking lot adjacent to the school, next to the basketball courts.
“It was off for over an hour,” she said. “We went to go pick up our daughter, when we came back, my husband went to put our daughter in the backseat and (the van) was full of smoke.”
As they got everyone to safety and called first responders, the van erupted into flames and was fully engulfed as firefighters arrived, just minutes later.
Sapulpa firefighters say they aren’t sure what sparked the fire, but a statement from the victim may have indicated the problem as electrical.
“One of the owners was telling me they detected some smoke coming from the front of the vehicle, by the dash,” one firefighter at the scene said. “Of course once the doors were opened and the wind was able to spread the fire it really took off. I really hate it for them.”
The van was a complete loss, but there were no injuries. The official cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no other vehicles involved or damage done to school property.
