An electric vehicle crashed into a Mission Viejo nail salon Wednesday and immediately burst into flames, and an off-duty fire captain who happened to see it ran straight into the burning building to get customers out.
The crash happened at Blossom Nails & Spa around 11:42 a.m. Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Captain Chris Chang was off duty but nearby when he saw the vehicle hit the business and catch fire. He didn’t wait for backup.
“This morning, an electric vehicle crashed into a nail salon and immediately caught fire. Off-duty OCFA Fire Captain Chris Chang sprang into action, running into the burning salon to make sure everyone was out,” OCFA said in a statement.
Help arrived fast, by coincidence rather than design. An engine captain and engineer from Engine 12 were already in the area, following an ambulance carrying two of their firefighter/paramedics to the hospital on an unrelated call. When fire dispatch came over the radio, they diverted and were first on scene.
Video from the scene showed heavy black smoke pouring off the burning vehicle as Chang and arriving crews worked to put the fire out before it could spread to the businesses next door.
Chang didn’t come up through a conventional firefighting track. He worked as a chiropractor before switching careers, going through the recruit academy and completing paramedic school, according to his department bio. The department’s profile of him credits his quick thinking in past incidents with keeping fires from spreading to neighboring structures.
Why the Battery Mattered
The danger here wasn’t an ordinary car fire. Lithium-ion batteries, standard in electric vehicles and plenty of household electronics, burn hotter and more unpredictably than gasoline fires. Fire officials say water and standard firefighting tactics often don’t work on them, and the batteries can explode without warning.
That risk is exactly why Chang’s decision to go in without hesitation mattered. A slower response could have meant a very different outcome for customers trapped inside, and for the row of businesses sitting next to a burning lithium-ion battery.
