A General Motors SUV caught fire and heavily damaged a Wisconsin home even as federal investigators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stepped up their investigation of allegations that some GM vehicles are likely to catch fire and burn. The vehicles can catch fire even with the ignition turned off, according to federal safety investigators.

The owner of the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe reported to ConsumerAffairs.com that her vehicle "just lit on fire" in the middle of the night. "The vehicle was sitting in our driveway for 10 hours," the owner said. "No one drove it. No one moved it. No one even sat in it."

An explosion caused by the burning Tahoe rousted the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin family from their beds. "We had just enough time to evacuate our two small children before my husband grabbed a garden hose and tried to contain the fire so it wouldn't burn our house to the ground," the mother told us.

The Chevrolet Tahoe was parked within 5 feet of the owner's house. "We were very lucky no one was hurt," she said, "but what will happen to the next person?"

We will not build a new garage because I will never feel safe parking my cars in our garage, the Tahoe owner told us.

Before the Elkhart Lake SUV fire occurred, federal safety investigators had received two consumer complaints that a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe and a GMC Yukon caught fire while parked in home garages with the engines off.

The truck owners reported to NHTSA that both homes were badly damaged. Two people were injured in one of the fires.

The federal safety agency is aware of "41 non-crash engine compartment fires" in the GM trucks and SUVs including 8 fires that may have caused significant property damage, according to the NHTSA Web site.

The NHTSA investigation now underway involves 21 GM models and more than 2.7 million GM trucks and SUVs.