The blaze was reported shortly after 2 p.m. No injuries were reported.
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Police arrested a 52-year-old man Saturday afternoon after he allegedly approached a motorist fueling a vehicle at the Riverdale Street Shell station, asked for and received a cup of gasoline and then used it to set a motor scooter ablaze.
No injuries were reported in the fire, which destroyed the scooter. Police do not know why the man, who claimed to own the scooter, set it on fire.
Sgt. Jeffrey Harlow said the incident occurred shortly after 2 p.m. The suspect, identified by police as Carlos Rodriguez, 17 Highland Ave., Apt. D, initially went into the station at Riverdale Street and Highland Avenue and asked for a gasoline container. Told that the station had no such containers, the suspect grabbed an empty coffee cup and left the store, police said.
Witnesses told police that Rodriguez approached the motorist, asked for some gasoline and then poured it over the scooter and lit it on fire.
Fire Chief William Flaherty said the fire was in a rear corner of the station’s parking lot, some distance away from the gasoline pumps.
“It wasn’t close to the building,” Flaherty said. “There were no exposures around.”
Although a store employee initially attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, he was not successful and the scooter was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene, Flaherty said.
“I saw the fire and I tried to put it out and I tried to keep our customers away from it so they wouldn’t get hurt,” said David Cruz, an associate for the store.
The store has three fire extingishers and Cruz said he grabbed one but he couldn’t get it to work properly so he grabbed a second. Shortly afterward an employee from Garelick Farms, who was making a delivery, joined him with another extinguisher.
“I was afraid to get too close because it was a bike and I was afraid it would explode,” he said. “I tried my best.”
But he said the other man was able to get a little closer to the flames. “I shook his hand and thanked him for trying to help.”
The Fire Department arrived shortly and extinguished the blaze completely, Cruz said.
After they put out the fire, firefighters saw a rag sticking out of the scooter’s gas tank and they called police, Flaherty said. The cap to the fuel tank was on the ground near the curb a short distance away, he said.
The fire was captured by amateur photographer Michael Hindes who said he had been preparing to go on a hike with a friend when they saw the thick black smoke from the fire.
“As we rolled up on it, we could see this insanely violent fire,” said Hindes, adding that firefighters had yet to arrive.
The two stayed on the scene only a short time because it was starting to get crowded with onlookers and they didn’t want to hamper firefighting efforts, Hindes said.
Harlow said fire damage made it difficult to determine the make and model of the scooter.
Rodriguez was charged with burning a motor vehicle. He was released on $250 cash bail over the weekend and is slated to be arraigned in Springfield District Court on Wednesday, officials said.