From today's Union Tribune. I'm betting this was a vanagon, since it
mentions a 15 to 20 year old VW van. This scenario has always been my
worst fear. Our house, like most in San Diego, has a gas water heater
installed in the garage, about 6 feet from the van. Code requires them to
be mounted approx. 18 inches above the floor to stay above any vapors.
Newer heaters also have a built in hydrocarbon detector to shut off the
pilot. It still scares me. I never fill up the tank and park in the garage
immediately afterwards. Please be sure to keep those fuel lines and tank
seals fresh!

"SOUTH COUNTY � Work being done on an old van may have started a two-alarm
fire Wednesday that nearly destroyed a house north of Bonita.
Firefighters from the Bonita Fire Protection District arrived about 1:30
p.m. to find flames coming from the garage and first-story windows of the
two-story home on Casa Grande Way near Pray Street. They issued a second
alarm and called in firefighters from National City and Chula Vista.
Samantha Lujan, ex-wife of the homeowner, said that a Volkswagen van that
was about 15 or 20 years old was being worked on in the garage just before
the fire broke out. The van was going to be moved out of the garage to be
sold, she said.
Lujan said a fire erupted in the van's motor and quickly spread to the
garage. Within minutes, the house was engulfed in flames, she said.
Lujan's two children, 4-year-old Matthew and 7-year-old Kaitlyn, were home
but got out without being hurt. The family's cat, Tahoe, and Labrador-mix
dog, Max, also escaped unharmed, she said."

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/25/bn25fire-in-
bonita/#disqus_thread

Walter