BREWER – An 18-year-old Eddington man avoided serious injury Wednesday afternoon when the car he was driving was destroyed by fire and a small explosion.

Ryan Largay, a running back for the Bangor High School football team, had been driving his white four-door 1994 Ford Taurus SHO south on State Street when he noticed that the driver of a car behind him was frantically motioning for him to pull over, Largay said.

Largay and his cousin J.T. Davis, 16, of Brewer had been leaving a garage where Largay was checking on the progress of a different family vehicle that was being worked on and was heading toward Davis’ home when he noticed the driver behind him.

“He said I was dripping flames onto the street, like oil would drip,” Largay said. “It was kind of scary to see flames coming from my car, knowing I had just been in it.”

Within four minutes after the fire was reported, members of the Brewer Fire Department were at the parking lot across from 158 State St. where Largay parked his car. Firefighters extinguished the small blaze within minutes, Brewer Assistant Fire Chief Chris Dore said.

Before fire officials could arrive, however the front end of the vehicle exploded, Largay said. No one was injured in the explosion. The two teens ran away from the vehicle as soon as they had parked the car in the nearly empty parking lot. The front of the vehicle was melted and charred by the flames.

“It could have been the front right tire or a front shock,” Dore said of he explosion. While temperatures reached into the mid-90s at the time of the fire, officials are not sure if the heat was the cause. Neither Largay nor Davis suffered any injuries.

“I’ll get another car,” Largay said, “but something like this makes you think twice about driving.”