A 1998 black Forester Subaru went up in smoke last Monday afternoon around 4 p.m. when travelling southbound on the QEII.
Driver Samantha Westman said she noticed smoke rising from the back of her car when looking in her rear-view mirror.
"A few minutes later we pulled over and looked at the engine and thought, 'nothing looks wrong,'" said Westman, who was travelling with her mother Loretta Westman.
The two are from the Yukon but Samantha had just finished her degree at Mount Royal University and her mother had travelled down for the start of a cross-Canada trip. The two were headed to Vancouver where they will begin the train trip from coast to coast.
With the smoke continuing to billow from the back, the two grabbed everything they could from the vehicle and headed down into the ditch and as far away from the car as they could before it went on fire.
"We think it's something to do with the rear diff," said Samantha of what she thinks went wrong.
Fire Chief John Syroid said the crew responded to the fire where the car was parked off to the side at the top of Antler Hill.
"We think it was the gears and differential ran out of oil and it was so hot it ignited and went on fire," he said.
The two women said they had a friend nearby who was going to get them to their destination.
