Six cars destroyed in BART parking lot by fire ignited during attempted gas theft

An attempt to steal gasoline from cars in an eBART parking lot turned into a fire that ripped through six vehicles on Thursday, fire officials said.

The six cars in the Antioch lot adjacent to Slatten Ranch Road were all destroyed. Crews arrived at the scene about 2:05 p.m.

“We don’t know exactly how this went down, but we found an electric drill with a spade bit and a melted plastic gas can under the first vehicle,” Contra Costa Fire Protection District spokesperson Steve Hill said. “It was fairly apparent that somebody was drying to drill a hole in the metal gas tank.”

The drill apparently created sparks, which ignited the stream of gasoline. It traveled down the slight slope of the parking lot and set the five other vehicles on fire.

The suspect fled, Hill said; it was not known if they were injured.

Two cars were engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived, Hill said. Four more were on their way to being destroyed.

It took firefighters 15 to 20 minutes to get the situation under control.