Teen worker helps save driver from fire after car plows through Redwood City store

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- On the Peninsula, workers have a huge mess to clean up at a Redwood City Ace Hardware after an SUV smashed right through the front wall.

The quick actions of a teen employee made sure everyone got out safely as a fire ignited with flames shooting from where the SUV stopped.

It happened just after 5 p.m. at the Ace Hardware on Woodside Road.

The Redwood City Fire Department says when they arrived at the scene, both the car and the store were on fire.

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Ricky Pera, a 16-year-old employee, said the driver hit two cash registers and ended up in an aisle.

"And we looked to our right, and a SUV came straight through the window, and we have a lot of butane tanks and lighters which started catching on fire so we had to ask fast get her out of the vehicle and stopped the fire," Pera said.

Pera and other employees got everyone else outside safely before the fire spread to the Christmas decorations in the store. SKY7 showed all the smoke billowing out before the fire was extringuished.

Pera said the driver didn't appear injured, just shaken up.

"She's told me that she stepped on the gas instead of the brake, which caused her to go flying into the store," he said.

Pera is glad no one got seriously injured and said it's the last thing he would've expected to have happen.

The fire department says building inspectors on Monday night were trying to determine the stability of the building's structure. For now, the store will be shut down.