Abbeville hotel almost catches fire

Jerome Mergist and his wife Abeline went out for a nice evening on the town Tuesday and returned to their hotel room, not knowing that their vehicle would catch fire and threaten to burn down their hotel.
Mergist and his wife have been living in the Extended Stay Suite Inn in Abbeville for two months and were tired of eating sandwiches in their room.
Mergist, a retired oil field worker, treated his wife to a hot meal and then they went shopping. The couple returned to their room around 7 p.m.
Abeline heard noises outside the room and told her husband to go look to see what was happening.
When Mergist walked outside, he saw a vehicle on fire, near his. He first thought it was another vehicle and then realized it was his.
He said he saw flames shooting out of the engine from his 1998 White Ford pickup truck. A guest in the hotel was trying to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.
Minutes later, the Abbeville fire department arrived and put out the fire.
Mergist’s truck was less than 10 feet from rooms. All the guests near the truck were evacuated from their rooms in fear that the fire would set the entire inn on fire.
The flames shot high enough to melt part of the gutter on the roof of the inn.
“I have never seen flames that high,” Mergist said.
The truck, unfortunately, will have to stay parked next to his room until his insurance adjuster comes to look at it.
The fire looks to have started in the engine. Mergist said he has not had any trouble with the engine recently.
Mergist said his wife cried and he had a hard time going to sleep Tuesday night.