SAVANNAH | An SUV lost control following a collision and slammed into a fuel pump at a gas station along one of Savannah's busiest roads Tuesday, causing the pump to burst into flames and killing the driver, authorities said.
The vehicle overturned in the center of the blaze, said Mark Keller, spokesman for Savannah Fire and Emergency Services. He said one employee inside the station's convenience store escaped and firefighters rescued a customer who emerged from a bathroom to find the store exit blocked by flames.
The fire sent flames shooting above the awning covering the fuel pumps, while a huge cloud of black smoke drifted above DeRenne Avenue, a major thoroughfare lined with restaurants and businesses on Savannah's suburban south side. Police closed several blocks of the avenue for nearly two hours Tuesday. Firefighters blasted the fire with water and foam until they could reach an emergency valve inside the store to cut off the flow of gasoline feeding the blaze.
"The gas pump was knocked completely off the island and you had a raw opening basically to the gasoline that's inside the storage tank," Keller said. "It could have easily gotten out of hand."
Police identified the man who died in the fire as 87-year-old James Lester. Investigators determined Lester had pulled his SUV into traffic and was struck on the passenger side by an oncoming car, said Sonny Cohrs, a spokesman for Savannah-Chatham County police. After the collision, Lester's vehicle accelerated toward the gas station.
"Then the SUV came into the gas station parking lot, lost control and ... crashed into the gas pumps," Cohrs said.
Keller said the exterior of the gas station suffered heat damage from the intense fire, but there was little damage inside. No damage was reported to any other businesses in the area.
