“Now that’s what I call a Manila barbecue.”

Manila Community Park caretaker Maggie Fox was sweeping up shards of blackened glass and other debris as she spoke to us about the burned out once-blue KIA Sedona now littering her parking lot. According to Fox, she noticed that the car was there when she went to lock the gate for the night at around 10 p.m. Not knowing if the owners would return for it, she left it the gate open in case they did.

At about 2 a.m. she was awoken by messages informing her the car was ablaze. 

“That was a hot fire,” Fox explained.

Arcata Fire responded and was able to put out the fire before it significantly spread (though the tree above it is pretty charred). Jenny Williamson of the Arcata Fire District tells the Outpost that the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the cause of the fire. The car, she said, is registered to a McKinleyville resident.