POULSBO — Cheryl Grinager had come to Petco from Bainbridge Island to pick up some cat food.

“I pulled in here, the car was fine and I even sat in it to make a phone call and then went [inside],” Grinager said.

While shopping, an announcement was made that smoke was spewing from Grinager’s green, 2012 Mini Cooper in the parking lot. “I ran out and it was by that time billowing with flames,” she said.

Around 12:30 p.m. Dec. 4, the Poulsbo Fire Department responded to the car fire at 21700 Market Place.

There was no indication, Grinager noted, that anything was wrong with her car prior to it bursting into flames. “It just caught on fire,” she said. “I hadn’t had any problem with it driving over here, nothing.”

Grinager said it only took emergency responders about four minutes to arrive on the scene to quell the blaze, but as she watched flames building in her car, it seemed much longer.

“It seemed like an eternity, but it was a very short time.”

–Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter with the North Kitsap Herald. He can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.