Thursday morning at 4:45, the Leitchfield Fire Department responded to the 500 block of the William Thomason Byway on the report of a vehicle fire.
Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters found a Chevrolet Impala in a southbound lane nearly engulfed in flames. The driver, Shennee Ashby, of Leitchfield, and a passenger both escaped the vehicle.
According to a witness, the Chevy began spewing flames from underneath the vehicle as it turned from South Main Street onto the bypass. After traveling for about half-a-mile behind the car, the witness, a Breckinridge County volunteer fireman, turned on his emergency lights to urge Ashby to pull over.
As the vehicle rolled to a stop, fire was clearly visible inside the engine compartment. The flames quickly spread to the passenger compartment, destroying the interior of the car.
Ashby said she smelled gas in the car two days prior, and changed a fuel injection component. The vehicle ran with no issues until Thursday morning when Ashby got into the Impala after stopping at a convenience store, and she again smelled gasoline inside the passenger compartment. It was only a few minutes later that the vehicle caught fire.
Both southbound lanes of the bypass were covered with a significant amount of ice, the result of LFD extinguishing the blaze. Leitchfield Public Works arrived and laid down salt, but with the temperature in the teens, the salt was initially ineffective.
Leitchfield police placed a cruiser in the roadway, routing southbound traffic around the icy patch.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
