A Tesla Model S caught fire on Tuesday in Los Gatos, California, after getting a flat tire, the Santa Clara County Fire Department confirmed to Business Insider.
The first fire started minutes after the Model S was towed to an auto-repair shop. The vehicle reignited in the evening, the department said. The fires caused no injuries.
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"We are currently investigating the matter and are in touch with local first responders. We are glad to hear that everyone is safe," a Tesla representative told Business Insider.
The representative said Tesla vehicles catch fire less often than the average car, citing data from a US government agency and a global nonprofit. The representative added that when a Tesla does catch fire, the fire spreads slower than in a gas-powered car, giving occupants more time to exit the vehicle.
The Model S owner told ABC7 News that he bought it three months before the incident and had driven it 1,200 miles, adding that he and his family would not own another Tesla vehicle.
"If this had been in the house, and we were on vacation, and this thing caught fire in the garage, the whole house could go under," he said.
—Amanda del Castillo (@AmandaABC7) December 19, 2018
In June, a Model S suddenly caught fire in Los Angeles. The fire drew attention after the actress Mary McCormack — whose husband, the British director Michael Morris, was driving the vehicle — shared a video of it on Twitter. In the video, fire can be seen beneath the vehicle's front left tire.
In a preliminary report on its investigation into that incident, the National Transportation Safety Board said it didn't cause any injuries. The agency did not offer any explanations for why the vehicle may have caught fire.
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