Authorities say 10 elderly women escaped unharmed when the limousine they were in burst into flames while idling in Northern California. The fire yesterday morning comes a little more than a month after five nurses were killed while trapped inside a burning limousine on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. Fire officials say they were called to a gated community in Walnut Creek around 11:35am local time yesterday for a vehicle fire and quickly put out the burning 2009 Lincoln Town Car.
All but two of the women are in their 90s. They were apparently headed to Sonoma to celebrate a friend's 96th birthday. Passenger Mary Chapman told KGO-TV she and two other women got out and helped others escape. She says the other passengers were dependent on walkers and canes. (More Lincoln Town Car stories.)