A MAN has been treated for burns and smoke inhalation after accidentally destroying his car and setting fire to grassland in Wodonga yesterday.
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Emergency services were called to Gilberts Road near Huon Creek Road about 6.30am.
Police believe the 38-year-old Wodonga man became bogged in grass and the heat of the Holden Commodore’s exhaust caused the grass to catch alight.
That in turn caused the car to catch on fire, and the vehicle was gutted by the blaze.
The man was taken to hospital with minor burns and smoke inhalation after trying to put the fire out.
A woman who was also in the vehicle was unhurt.
“Firefighters were on the scene pretty quickly,” Sergeant Amanda Meagher said.
“It appears to be purely accidental and the CFA managed to stop the fire from spreading any further.”
The man appeared to have driven the car while it was on fire.
A small amount of oil and fuel appeared to leak into the creek.
Meanwhile, two Wodonga teens are facing charges over deliberately lit fires, including a blaze that damaged a memorial to late Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes.
Police arrested a 14-year-old and 15-year-old on Monday morning.
Both have been charged with causing a bushfire on the Wodonga rail trail on Sunday morning, and with criminal damage by arson over the Hughes memorial fire at Birallee Park last November 29, 2014
The 14-year-old has also been charged with intentionally causing a bushfire on the rail trail on March 22.
