[Damon in STL]

I just got done working with the fire investigator as to the cause of my car fire. It turns out it was not a car fire. The fire was caused by a welding ember that started in an old towel I had used the day before to protect my legs. I was wearing shorts and placed the towel over my legs to keep the weld splatter off of them. Apparently the towel had a hot ember still smoldering on it when I balled it up and put it down on the ground in the garage between the two cars. Over the course of 24 hours it continued to burn without notice even though I was in the garage with the doors closed the next day for several hours. It finally got hot enough to cause a fire which spread to the garage mat I had next to the car. The fire then made its way over to the car.

Now that the fire inspector has done his part I'm able to take a closer look at the car. The damage looks worse than it actually is. Since the fire did not start in the engine compartment as I had thought the damage seen to the exterior of the car may be mainly from the insulation in the garage door catching fire and then dripping down onto the car while it was on fire. The inspector said that the fire did not get that hot inside the engine compartment and showed me things which should have melted if it had. This is good and bad news.....as it makes the decision to try and salvage the car harder.