Vehicle Fire at LaBonne's Market Caused by Critters

Lucia Fritz thought she was going to spend a tame Monday afternoon running errands.

She went to the bank and the post office.

"I thought I smelled pumpkins, but I thought it must have been something in the air," said Fritz, of of 377 Carmel Hill Rd. North, Bethlehem.

Her Labor Day weekend started out in a similar way. She ran errands and noticed that the car was acting funny.

"The car was looked at and there was a nest in the engine, with hickory nuts, leaves and twigs," she said. "We think it was chipmunks."

The critters ate through the wires in the engine and the repairs were costly, Fritz said.

Imagine her surprise when a month later, while walking into LaBonne's Market at approximately 1:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3, her car incurred damage again due to those crafty critters.

"I was walking into LaBonne's and somebody asked: 'Is that your car? Isn't it smoking'?" she said.

This did not deter Fritz, who said she rolls with the punches well.

"I just left the hood open, because it was just smoke," she said.

Fritz continued with her errands and when she looked up, she was quite surprised.

"I see a big fire truck, policemen, people all around and someone with a fire extinguisher," she said. "It's never a dull moment."

The cause of the fire: A nest. Again.

Woodbury resident Bud Neal was in the parking lot when the car started smoking. The owner of Woodbury Drug Store had a fire extinguisher and used it on the car.

Neal said he used the extinguisher a second time when the nest under the hood caught fire.

"[Woodbury Police Officer] George Romano came in then and I said, 'we've got to get the car away from the building'," said Neal.

The car was parked in front of Woodbury Drug Co. and was moved into the center of a parking lot aisle.

Fritz' spirits were not dampened by the afternoon's adventures. Her car did not sustain too much damage and no one was hurt.

"Sometimes life just conspires against you and that's all there is to it," she said, chuckling. "Getting hysterical doesn't solve anything. Once you're done with the hysterics, the problem is still there. It's best to roll with the punches."