I drove over to Whittamore House today and parked in the lot on the South side of Mallincrodt (the student center). As I was looking for a spot, I passed a car that was on fire. I thought it best to park some distance from said car, and I then phoned the campus operator and told her of the problem. She transferred me to the police, who told me a fire engine was already on its way.

I crossed the street by foot to Whittamore house, and by the time I got there, there was a substantial crowd on both sides of Forsythe watching the blaze. It was by now a pretty good fire. A guy showed up with a fire extinguisher. People were yelling from him to get out of the way because the tank might blow, but he tried to put the fire out anyway. His extinguisher was no match for the fire, and he gave up and went away.

By now the gas tank had blown (with a pop, nothing as spectacular as what you see on TV), and the fire was so hot that it ignited the car parked just West of itself. A guy from Whittamore house came out and saw that it was his truck that just ignited.

The fire departmnet showed up, put out the fire, and people went about their business.

The feeling of watching the fire and wondering what was taking the fire department so long was an intense one. It seemed like 1/2 an hour before they arrived but it was only about 5 minutes after I called.