Emily Forschen
It was lit on campus Friday morning.
“The moment I entered the parking lot,” first-year student Jacqueline Thach said, “I started to smell smoke.”
A student’s car caught fire on Friday, Jan. 25 around 10:30 a.m. in parking lot D in front of the 2400 building. The front of a 2008 silver Honda Accord was engulfed in flames until the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department arrived to put it out. The orange blaze and billowing smoke, visible from as far as the portable classrooms, created a scene on a usually sleepy Friday.
The car belonged to Thach, who said it began smoking on her way to school. It was pouring from the hood by the time she arrived on campus. She immediately went to the Campus Safety office. By the time she returned to her car, flames had overtaken the engine and security called the fire department. The firefighters had it extinguished by 10:45 a.m., leaving the Honda charred in the parking lot.
“I feel bad for even bringing my car here, actually,” Thach said through tears. “I feel like I endangered people.”
No people or other vehicles were damaged. The fire was big enough to spread to other cars on another day of the week when the parking lot would be full. Since Fridays are the slowest on campus, Thach had a space with no cars nearby.
“You were very lucky there were no cars around,”senior administrative assistant Valerie Ball told Thach. Ball was one in a crowd that had formed by the spectacle. Thach stood on the sidewalk in tears, giving her report to security officer Dirk Stoddard. The cause of the fire is undetermined.
