MARTINSVILLE, Va. (rbs news now) — A vehicle fire early Thursday morning scorched part of a vacant house in Martinsville but caused no injuries.

Firefighters were called shortly before 5 a.m. September 11 to the 1000 block of Brookdale Street, where a black Cadillac Escalade had caught fire.

“It got a little bit of the siding of a home that Martinsville Police Department said was vacant,” Martinsville Fire & EMS Assistant Chief Dwayne Robertson told rbs news now at the scene.

Robertson said the female driver parked in front of the home before the vehicle bursted into flames.

“She just said her battery light came on and she was like, ‘what’s going on?’ And all of a sudden, she started seeing something like black smoke so she pulled over, jumped out, call 9-1-1,” Robertson added.

Nearly an entire tanker of water was used to control the blaze.

“Almost 500 gallons. We almost used the whole tank of the truck. We put some foam on the end,” Robertson stated.

Martinsville Police also responded to the scene. 

Copyright 2025 by Romero Broadcasting System, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, rewritten, or redistributed.