A car fire delayed the delivery of hundreds of copies of the South Whidbey Record Saturday.

The Record is the sister newspaper of the Whidbey News-Times.

Diane Smothers, circulation manager for Whidbey News Group, said she received a call from newspaper delivery person Seth Price at about 2 a.m. He told her that his car caught fire on Windmill Road and about 600 copies of the newspaper went up in smoke.

“He was driving along and the next thing you know, his car was on fire,” she said.

Price was able to get out of his car without injury and called 911. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the car, which he had just received from his parents, was a total loss, Smothers said.

“He kept saying it melted,” she said.

Smothers drove to Clinton and took the ferry to Mukilteo to pick up extra copies of The Record. With help from some of her other delivery people, Smothers delivered the papers. Because there weren’t enough copies of The Record, however, some residents in Greenbank received the Whidbey News-Times instead.

Smothers has worked for Whidbey News Group for more than 28 years and doesn’t remember newspaper delivery ever being hampered by fire before.

• Anyone who didn’t receive a copy of their newspaper should call our circulation department at 1-888-838-3000.