Smoke poured from the second floor of a parking garage at Florida Gulf Coast University on Tuesday after a car caught fire, damaging several vehicles and prompting students to evacuate the area.
San Carlos Park and Estero firefighters responded to Parking Garage Two shortly before noon. Crews saw flames coming from a vehicle’s engine compartment, and the fire spread to a neighboring vehicle, the San Carlos Park Fire Protection & Rescue Service District said.
The university said four cars were damaged. The fire district said two vehicles sustained major damage and a third had heat damage to its roof and side. Other vehicles were covered in soot and ash. No one was injured.
“I was just walking back from class. I see that there’s just smoke coming crazy out of the second story,” said Fisher Yingling, whose car was destroyed.
“Come up the stairs. There’s my car sitting vertically, like tilted, completely burned down. All my possessions are gone,” he said.
Jonathan Schaffer said he received an emergency notification telling students to stay away and evacuate the garage.
“We had the notification come through our phones. Hey, there’s a fire in parking garage two, stay away, you know, evacuate the area,” Schaffer said.
Students had to wait before they could return to the garage to retrieve their vehicles. The damaged vehicles have since been
removed, and the garage is now open.
Schaffer said he had chosen his parking spot that day on purpose.
“What’s kind of funny is I actually made a conscious effort to choose that parking spot today,” he said.
Yingling said he was grateful no one was hurt. He expects the fire to remain a memorable part of his final semester before graduating in December.
“I’m just thankful that no one was injured. And we’re all in good health and good wealth,” he said.
The State Fire Marshal was also at the scene. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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Source: Gulfcoast
