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Hope they don’t try to blame Tesla for this fire

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Article: Multiple exotic vehicles destroyed in Fort Lauderdale house fire

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of a fire at a million-dollar home in Fort Lauderdale that housed exotic vehicles in its garage.

"This house was built specifically for cars, for exotic cars," neighbor Barry Zimmerman said.

Video shows the aftermath of the massive fire that started about 9 p.m. Tuesday in the 1600 block of Southeast 12th Court.

The flames tore through the $1.7 million home that was full of pricey cars.

"You could smell burning rubber. You could smell burning metal," Zimmerman said.

The two-alarm fire sparked inside the garage, according to Fort Lauderdale firefighters.

It took close to 50 firefighters to put out the flames

Crews later used a saw to cut their way inside the home.

"Apparently the upstairs is OK, from what I heard, and the downstairs is just trashed," realtor Kirk Bauer said.

Bauer sold the home to its current owner, who is a well-known car collector, who lives in Canada and was out of town when the fire started.

"His cars are important to him, so he was upset about his cars, for sure. Unfortunately, they're gone. He's smart. He's got insurance, I'm sure, and it'll be taken care of," Bauer said.

Among the cars destroyed were an $80,000 2013 Nissan GTR, $430,000 2016 Bentley Moulsane, $350,000 2018Porsche 911 special, $28,000 1973Volkswagen Thing and a $130,000 2018Tesla Model XB100B.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials said a $27,000 Harley Davidson was also burned in the fire, as well as two golf carts and two personal watercrafts.

Investigators were back at the scene Wednesday morning, trying to figure out what sparked the blaze.

"I had heard, actually, that it maybe was a battery tender," Bauer said. "But the Tesla, when they pulled the Tesla out last night, you could hear it while it was on the flatbed. You could hear things popping within the Tesla."


Notice how they specifically point out the Tesla.
 
If it had been the Tesla battery which spontaneously combusted I expect the whole car would have been reduced to a puddle of molten aluminium and plastic on the floor, not something with a discernible form apt to sit upright on a flatbed.

Things popping within the Tesla could be the cells, if enough external heat were applied to popcorn the casings, without necessarily catching fire itself.